Witness, an international nonprofit organization that helps people use video and technology to protect and defend human rights, has launched the first cohort of Fortifying the Truth Community, a network of community journalists, human rights defenders and local Civil Society Organizations across West and Central Africa.
Cohort members are responsible for fortifying the truth through community-led documentation to advance human rights and provide substantial evidence to prosecute perpetrators of human rights violations.
The first cohort of the Fortify the Truth Community was launched in Abuja Nigeria, with an intensive workshop which brought together all 17 members representing 14 organizations across West and Central Africa.
While speaking about the essence of the workshop and the network, Nkem Agunwa, Africa Program Manager, Witness explained that in its over 30 years of existence, Witness has been leveraging video to document evidence to defend human rights. Still, emerging technologies need to be explored to counter the threat of misinformation.
Agunwa explained that “community members are left vulnerable to the threat of misinformation and disinformation of those who seek to delegitimize their voice, of government agencies who deny authentic evidence of violations of human rights issues.
“We are here to continue to support communities at the frontline, we are shifting tactics with emerging forms of technology, with new skills around video evidence so they can fortify the truth.”
Speaking about the focus on local community members, Agunwa explained that “we absolutely believe that the impact of human rights struggles and efforts lies not in the effort of transnational institutions or global institutions, but rather within communities who are experiencing these violations, and they understand the local context.
“We have intentionally brought together community journalists, these are journalists working on the ground, and they have expressed commitments to pass the knowledge or to leverage this knowledge in a way that it will serve their communities.
“Through this project, we can support them, to weave the right narrative to confront the tyranny of perpetrators of violence, then there can be a shift in the landscape, and that is what we want to see.”
She also added that “for the next one year, we will be working with cohort members to implement strategies, projects, and solutions that will be relevant to their communities.
One of the facilitators, Yvonne Ng, Senior Programme Manager of Archives, Witness from the US, expressed great enthusiasm about the workshop and how participants have demonstrated commitment to fortify the truth by collecting and archiving video evidence.
Ng, who observed that a lot of journalists are not familiar with archiving, as they are only interested in getting the stories done, reiterated the need for journalists to incorporate archiving into their investigating workflow.
“Journalists need to understand the value and the need for archiving to be incorporated into the investigating workflow, so that the evidence they are collecting can better strengthen their reporting, especially if they have to demonstrate their process to someone else.”
She charged the participants to “reflect on what they’ve learnt from the workshop, integrate it into their work, and improve their approach to storing their evidence.”
Sharing experience about the training, one of the participants, Edem Kojo, Research Lead, GHOne TV/Starr FM, Ghana, said the training encompassed a lot of diverse areas, broad and detailed, such that there was something for everyone irrespective of their reason and purpose for joining the training.
He said, “for me as a researcher and a data-biased person, the tools I have been exposed to will make my work much simpler, give me more accurate conclusions and results.”
Also, Dr Francis Sowa, National Media Reform Coordinating Group (MRCG), Sierra Leone said “the training has reinforced my argument that communities have always had structures aimed at countering harmful narratives, but there had been a reliance on other sources providing accounts of events and happenings in localities.”
Dr Sowa added that he has been equipped with the necessary skills and tools that would empower him to work with local communities to fortify the truth at their level by capturing required videos and fighting mid/disinformation, stressing the reality of the statement that “if there are visual accounts of human rights violations, there will be higher chances of accountability.”
Lois Ugbede, Assistant Editor at Dubawa, Nigeria, expressed her delight about the training, adding that it “has been insightful and timely. I believe it will help improve my work and that of my team in combating information disorder from a community-led point of view.
“I learnt how to collect, process, archive and use OSINT and open-source information to investigate, verify and defend human rights.”
Menkemndi Randy, Founder, Noble Arts Entertainment, Cameroon, shared that the training will enhance his work and counter the spread of misinformation in Cameroon
Randy explained that “in Cameroon, we have an ongoing armed conflict in the English-speaking regions. This has led to a lot of misinformation as well as the spread of fake news on human rights violations. This is leading to trauma and of course the prolongation of the crisis.
“I hope and intend to use the skills I’ve learnt from programme to verify information and data especially about the crisis in Cameroon going forward and contribute to justice and accountability for all the human rights violations in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon; a challenging task I hope to brave and triumph in.”
The training, which included sessions on maps, geo-location, archiving, collecting video, tools for fact-checking video and picture evidence, data visualization, among others, was facilitated by Adebayo Okeowo, Georgia Edwards, John Eromonsele, , Loui Mainga, Michael Yambo, and Yvonne Ng.