Deadline: 7 May 2025
Do you want to strengthen information integrity in Southern Africa? The Code for Africa is offering four Media Sentinel Fellowships to frontline grassroots researchers with expertise in social media listening and analysis and with a good knowledge of social media cross-platform coordination.
The six-month part-time fellowships are part of a joint initiative between CfA and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to strengthen information integrity by detecting, disrupting, and de-platforming malign actors in Southern Africa.
The programme aims to protect inclusive democracy and human rights in the digital age by leveraging digital technologies, with an emphasis on climate and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+) issues.
The successful candidates will work with CfA’s forensic investigations team, iLAB, to provide information that will guide the creation of early warning alerts for information manipulation. The Media Sentinels will provide information on coordinated inauthentic behaviour (CIB) and other information manipulation and interference (IMI) behaviour within their countries.
A team of international experts from iLAB will train and mentor the fellows to analyse data from an ongoing threat actor mapping that partner organisations have developed as part of the project.
Benefits
- The fellowship package will consist of:
- Stipend: Fellows will receive a competitive monthly stipend depending on their influence as macro or nano influencers and experience in similar previous projects.
- Training and mentoring: CfA will provide the fellows with advanced training and mentoring in traditional and social media monitoring.
Eligible Countries
- Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Eligibility Criteria
- The fellowships will enable individuals to use their social media and analytics skills in conjunction with CfA’s watchlists and lexicons, for proactive pre-grouping and communication of early warning signals for early detection of toxic online content.
- Therefore, applicants must meet the following criteria:
- You must be non-partisan, without any link to government agencies, paramilitary organisations, political parties, state-affiliated media, or other bodies that might create the perception of partisanship in either national or local politics.
- You must be fluent in English or French.
- You must have access to a reliable personal laptop or computer with stable internet connectivity to participate in programme activities, online classes, and mentorship sessions.
- You must demonstrate an understanding of using social media platforms such as Facebook, Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp, and X.
- You must be available for weekly one-hour virtual meetings.
For more information, visit Code for Africa.
