Regional Conference on Information Integrity in West Africa and the Sahel

Over the past months, GIZ’s regional project Strengthening Information Integrity in West Africa has supported UNESCO in organizing the Regional Conference on Information Integrity in West Africa and the Sahel, taking place from 3 to 5 September 2025 in Praia, Cape Verde. 

Uniting government officials, civil society, media, academia, and digital stakeholders to strengthen policies on information integrity and digital platform governance, the conference represents a key milestone in advancing regional approaches to counter disinformation and hate speech. The project collaborates with a diverse range of partners from all sectors of society in Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and the broader region. It has facilitated the participation of key partners from Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire and led national consultations, the outcomes of which directly inform the policy documents and action plan to be adopted at the conference. In cooperation with its partners, the project will also showcase good practices and address challenges related to information integrity through the following sessions: 
  

Whack-a-Mole: how do we ensure fact-checking survives the current existential crisis?  examines the future of fact-checking as tech giants and donor agencies withdraw critical support, threatening the sustainability of independent verification efforts—especially in regions like West Africa. The panel includes representatives of Pesacheck, SoleilCheck, CJRS and CESTI 

 Fake News – Real Money: the ‘digital mercenaries’ who profiteer from information manipulation  explores the hidden economics behind disinformation and the influence-for-hire industry, highlighting the critical role of addressing ‘dark money’ that fuels hate speech and manipulative content. Panelists Justin Arenstein (Code for Africa) and Katharina Lobeck (GIZ’s Strengthening Information Integrity in West Africa) will discuss strategies to disrupt these covert operations and strengthen information integrity in West Africa and beyond. 

Weaponised Words: how do we combat transnational extremist polarisation, incitement and hate speech?  focuses on combating digital incitement and radicalization by exploring grassroots early warning systems and community-based peacebuilding efforts. Frontline practitioners from Code for Africa, Resilience for Peace, Search for Common Ground, GRADEC, and Conseil National du Laïcat share successful local strategies to counter hate speech and online extremism, emphasizing the importance of context-specific approaches over external solutions. 

Regulatory Innovation Incubator: Learning from emerging promising practices in the regulation of digital platforms from across the globe  highlights innovative, design-centered regulatory approaches to digital platform governance in West Africa, emphasizing prosocial technology and resilience. It promotes regional peer learning by drawing on global best practices to develop a roadmap aligned with UNESCO’s Model Policy on Information Integrity. The panel will include representatives from Search for Common Ground, RIARC, REFRAM, ANP, and CORED. 

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