Ile-Apa: LAI, BBYDI collaborate to sensitize over 150 elderly people on fact-checking misinformation
On Sunday, 11th February, 2024, over 154 elderly members of Ile-Apa Community trooped out to participate at the Information Manipulation Community Sensitization and Outreach as organized by the Literacy Assured Initiative (LAI) in collaboration with the Brain Builders Youth Development Initiative BBYDI’s FactCheck Africa and It was a grand moment for them.
Misunformation has become a menace in our society and Ile-Apa, as rural community, is not an exception. At LAI, we collaborated with BBYDI to provide fact-checking education and detailed training on how to combat misinformation in their community.
We launched a flashcard in local languages (Yoruba and Hausa), which details step-by-step way on how they can identify and tackle potential false information or fake news. Our Executive Director, Ahmed Adebowale took them through the flashcard and the Hausa-speaking members of that community were catered for.
Additional, we also instituted a team of four-man Community Vanguards (which comprises the Alangua of Ile-Apa, Mogaji, Chief Imam and a Hausa-Speaking Representative) which serve as gatekeepers in a bid to ensure accuracy and reliability. This sustainability approach was aimed at ensuring this project is not one off.
With series of their experiences shared as they relate to misinformation and how they’ve been properly guided, they now possess the necessary tools (via flashcards) to identify misleading information and take proactive measures to verify its authenticity before spreading it further.
“As an organization, we are happy at this collaboration with BBYDI and we hope that we’ll get to do more together.