Accra – August 27, 2026: FactSpace West Africa organized a two-day virtual fact-checking training for journalists from Roots Online Media, a Gambian media outlet, ahead of The Gambia’s December 2026 presidential election.
The training took place from August 25 to 26 via Google Meet.
The selected journalists received training in core fact-checking skills, including how to verify mis- and disinformation, best practices for election coverage, and lessons from Ghana’s 2024 election fact-checking coalition.
Alfa Shaban, editor at FactSpace West Africa, one of the facilitators said FactSpace is interested in efforts to protect the information space from harmful misinformation especially during the election period in The Gambia.
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Participants pooled from the Roots Online Media and the Gambian Fact-Checking Network agreed unanimously that as The Gambia heads to the polls, media organisations should form a coalition that brings journalists and fact-checkers together to track and counter mis- and disinformation before, during and after the elections.
“It has been a very insightful two days. This has opened my mind and my experience in fact-checking and also to be able to learn other new things from this training. As you are aware, Gambia is already in the election year and we have already started seeing a lot of mis/disinformation, fake news and the recycling of old videos, tribal remarks, targeting individuals, politicians, and people’s ethnicity…
“I look forward to members of the media and fact-checkers to be on top of their game during this period, while utilising the skills and knowledge gathered from this training,” said Momodou Janneh, a participant of the training.
Another participant, Mamina Sowe, said the training had taught her the importance of verifying information before sharing it.
“I have learnt about fact-checking and the importance of verifying information. I’m a beginner and a student, and I have learnt especially during elections to verify before sharing information and I hope to put what I learnt into practice.
The training forms part of FactSpace West Africa’s mandate to train young people across West Africa and build a growing community of fact-checkers. FactSpace is also exploring ways in which we will cover the Gambian elections having covered the 2021 elections on ground.
