DUBAWA and the Digital Technology, Artificial Intelligence and Information Disorder Analysis Centre (DAIDAC) have selected and trained 13 journalists across West Africa under its Kwame Karikari 2026 fact-checking and Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) fellowship.
This year’s fellows are drawn from different media platforms across anglophone West African countries: Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, and Liberia.
The Kwame Karikari Fact-Checking and OSINT Fellowship is a media and fact-checking training programme created to strengthen verification, accountability journalism, and the fight against misinformation across West Africa.
This year, the fellowship will run for three months. The fellowship, named after renowned Ghanaian media scholar and press freedom advocate Kwame Karikari, equips journalists and media practitioners with the skills needed to identify false claims, verify information, and promote evidence-based reporting in an increasingly complex digital information space.
Now in its eighth year, the programme has become a key intervention in tackling information disorder across the region.
A major strength of the fellowship is its integration of Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) techniques, which help fellows trace digital footprints, authenticate user-generated content, and uncover coordinated disinformation campaigns online.
Beyond technical training, the fellowship also promotes an ethical approach to fact-checking, recognising it as a public service that protects the most vulnerable communities from misinformation.
Roselena Ahiable, DUBAWA’s project manager for West Africa, said the fellowship aims to strengthen verification and accountability journalism across West Africa.
“The Kwame Karikari Fact-Checking and OSINT Fellowship is a vital training programme that strengthens verification and accountability journalism across West Africa. Through Open-Source Intelligence techniques, we equip journalists to trace digital footprints and expose coordinated disinformation campaigns,” Roselena said, “In my experience, this fellowship has noticeably improved investigators’ skills and helped build a more credible public discourse across the region.”
A recent study further showed that the annual fellowship has significantly improved participants’ verification and investigative skills, helping to strengthen local fact-checking ecosystems and support more credible public discourse across West Africa.
The Digital Investigations Manager of DAIDAC, Silas Jonathan, said the fellowship is particularly important with the new trend of information manipulation that threatens the stability of societies.
“Information manipulation threatens the stability of every society. The fellowship, while it is designed to counter this threat, also provides an opportunity for regional journalists to enhance their digital investigation skills and learn how to deploy them effectively,” Silas said.
Below is a list of the 2026 fellows, their respective countries and media platforms:
| S/N | Name | Country | Platform |
| 1 | Clinton Yeboah | Ghana | Luv FM – Multimedia Group Limited |
| 2 | Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith | Ghana | A1 Radio |
| 3 | Eric Appah Marfo | Ghana | Ghana News Agency |
| 4 | Meshack S. Muin | Liberia | Fortified City TV /Liberia News TV |
| 5 | Nukanah Kollie | Liberia | Super Bongese Radio |
| 6 | Alfred Koroma | Sierra Leone | Concord Times Newspaper and SLAJ-iVerify |
| 7 | Davida Spaine -Solomon | Sierra Leone | Truth Media |
| 8 | Momodou Janneh | Gambia | KMC Community Online Radio |
| 9 | Yankuba Corr | Gambia | Info-checked |
| 10 | Aisha Tamba | Gambia | Malagen |
| 11 | Promise Eze | Nigeria | TheCable |
| 12 | Opeyemi Lawal | Nigeria | Foundation for Investigative Journalism & HRJN |
| 13 | Mariam Ileyemi | Nigeria | Premium Times |