Do you want to take an active role in combating coordinated online abuse that targets African women journalists, election candidates or other human rights defenders? Code for Africa (CfA) in partnership with Jigsaw, is offering research grants and
technical support for evidence-driven analysis into how malign actors coordinate harassment and complaints against African women journalists and fact-checkers across 21 African countries.
The research fellowships come with a financial stipend, along with access to CfA’s in-house research desk, as well as forensic analysts, data scientists and open source intelligence (OSINT) researchers, and machine learning tools for social listening or data/network analysis.
The research fellows will compile evidence about online gender-based harassment into substantive public research reports that shines new light on the actors, networks and motives behind the online harassment and how it undermines public participation of marginalised groups on the African continent. Selected fellows will be invited to share their research at seminars or international events.
Why is CfA offering research grants?
Detailed evidence and/or actionable insights about how online gender based harassment is coordinated is scarce in Africa. This hampers traditional civil society watchdogs and media from proactively exposing these activities and mobilising for fairer societies.
The fellows’ research is therefore intended to not only help African media and CSOs understand online gender-based harassment in their country/region, but to establish ways in which they can combat the harassment.
Where will my research be published?
Fellows’ research output will be published with their home institutions, as well as on this site. CfA will also collaborate with research partners to identify and publish in relevant high-impact, mass-audience media or industry journals. Research can also be published as pre-print papers.
Depending on the research output, and the report format, the fellows may present their findings at public events or on broadcast media (as guest speakers) rather than in print media. As a principle, CfA will strive for syndication or multiple publications, to maximise impact.
Eligible Countries
The countries covered in this programme are: Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.
Eligibility Criteria
Individuals or small teams that work in African countries, or that are affiliated with African-based partners can apply.
All applications will be evaluated by an internal review committee.
