The selected fellows from Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Uganda have already started a four-day intensive virtual training which kicked off on Monday, July 20, 2020. The four-day training will be followed by a six-month fellowship from July to December 2020. 

In the training, the selected fellows are taken through courses on the misinformation system, news industry transformation, research and data journalism, investigative journalism and fact-checking/verification as an innovation to today's journalism. 

The Dubawa Fact-Checking Fellowship aims at providing an opportunity for analytic, dedicated and innovative journalists to research and write truth-based and factual stories; and also to institute a culture of fact-checking in newsrooms across Nigeria and Ghana.

The 2020 fellowship is tailored to fighting mis/disinformation in online media, print, radio and television. 

Fellows for the 6-month fellowship are selected from different geographical locations of the two countries.

“There is no better time than now, during this pandemic, to consolidate and expand on the Dubawa Fellowship Programme launched in 2019," The programme director, Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ), Oluwatosin Alagbe, said.

"The world is rife with misinformation and disinformation, and these fellows, the best in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Uganda, are saddled with the task of debunking and researching the trends.

“They will also institute the culture of fact-checking and verification in their respective newsrooms.” 

The Dubawa Fellowship is Supported by Heinrich Boll Stiftung Foundation Abuja office. and National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

The Fellowship this year will be virtual, due to the global pandemic and in adherence to safety rules and measures by the government and health officials.

DUBAWA is Nigeria’s independent, transparent and non-partisan verification and fact-checking platform, initiated by the PTCIJ in 2018.