FactSpace West Africa on May 14, 2025, held a co-design and co-creation workshop with various stakeholders in the information integrity chain, ahead of the implementation of its Interactive Voice Response (IVR-based) mis/disinformation response system.
The project relies on IVR technology that will enable citizens to access fact-checked information through their mobile phones using local languages and intuitive audio prompts, which require no internet connectivity.
Executive Director of FactSpace West Africa, Raibu Alhassan, said the project’s crucial goal was to bridge the gap between digital fact-checking platforms and offline communities.
“It is for this reason that this co-creation workshop has brought together a diverse group of stakeholders to ensure the system being developed and its messaging are contextually relevant, inclusive, and community-informed,” he said.
Participants included representatives from the National Media Commission (NMC), the Cyber Security Authority (CSA), Communication lecturers, Youth groups, regional journalists, and students in Media and Information Literacy (MIL) clubs in selected universities.
At the end of the workshop, six different groups developed key messages on different mis/disinformation topics to be translated and hosted on the IVR platform being built. They also developed IVR User Journey templates that FactSpace will fine-tune for further action.
“I am excited about the quality of outcomes we achieved with this workshop. We have two other workshops planned for the middle and northern belts before we conclude on the messages and other modalities to be hosted on our IVR platform,” Project Manager at FastSpace, Salifu Abdul Rahman said.
A cross-section of the participants indicated the workshop had deepened their appreciation on misinformation and especially for the need to focus on offline communities in combating misinformation.
FactSpace West Africa is an independent, non-partisan organisation working to tackle mis/disinformation and propaganda across West Africa. The organisation is a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) Code of Principles.
