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Call for applications: Africa Media Cybersecurity (Benin session)

25 octobre 2025

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What is Africa Media CyberSecurity?

Africa Media CyberSecurity is a theoretical and practical internet security training programme dedicated to the memory of our late friend Anna Gueye. It is intended for professional journalists and civil society media actors (bloggers, citizen journalists, web activists, etc.) from 11 countries in the West African sub-region.

Objective

This project aims to introduce media actors to digital security and protection practices and methods, and equip them with the necessary tools. Its main objective is to ensure that media professionals in West Africa have unrestricted access to the internet.

The project

The digital revolution has transformed the working methods of information professionals. Dictaphones and other audio recorders are becoming obsolete. Today’s journalists increasingly work with smartphones or laptops. They process, store and share digital data every day. Without a security policy and some understanding of data protection rules, all their work is at risk of being stolen or simply destroyed.

In Africa, working in the media, professionally or otherwise, often involves risks in some countries, including democratic ones. Journalists’ duty to inform and the public’s right of access to information are frequently violated. With digitisation, some governments do not hesitate to use fascist methods to plunge an entire country into a “blackout”.

In some countries, civil society actors regarded as whistle-blowers, citizen journalists or simply web activists are threatened, persecuted, monitored and arrested, even though they are only doing their work; others are targeted simply for publishing or sharing information.

By the end of this project, 500 journalists and web activists with unimpeachable professional ethics will have the tools and knowledge they need to work safely, communicate with confidence, mitigate the risks of infiltration and hacking, circumvent internet censorship and counter surveillance technologies.

AFRICTIVISTES will identify and support media actors in the nine French-speaking countries of West Africa, Guinea-Bissau and The Gambia. Participants in each country will receive free cybersecurity training and a toolkit of applications and software to put the knowledge they acquire into practice.

The programme offers training, technical support and networking opportunities.

Applicants should know how to use the internet, have an email address, be registered on a social media platform, and know how to use a computer and a smartphone (Android or iOS).

Programme schedule

The Africa Media CyberSecurity programme consists of ten main sessions. The sessions will be held successively in the following countries:

Benin
Togo
Côte d’Ivoire
Guinea
Burkina Faso
Mali
Mauritania
Niger
Senegal
The Gambia
Guinea-Bissau

Each session will be divided into three phases:

Threat identification
Proposed methods for addressing threats
Provision of tools

Who can participate?

Each session will host 50 participants, including:

25 professional journalists (web journalists, investigative journalists, radio journalists, television journalists and print journalists)
25 civil society media actors (bloggers, web activists, citizen journalists, data journalists, journalists 2.0, etc.)

APPLICATIONS FOR THE BENIN SESSION

Application deadline

The Benin session will take place in Cotonou from 6 to 11 August 2018.

The application deadline is 30 July 2018 at 23:59 (GMT).

How to apply

To apply for the Cotonou session, click on this link, complete the online application form and provide the requested information.

There is no participation or application fee. The programme is entirely free.

Selection criteria

All applications will go through a selection process. Applicants’ profiles and online activities will be taken into account.

Participants must meet the following criteria:

  • work in the media;
  • have access to the internet;
  • reside in the country hosting the session;
  • be aware of cybersecurity risks and challenges;
  • demonstrate motivation and an openness to networking.

Selection

Successful applicants will be notified by email after the selection process. They must confirm their participation to receive the agenda and further information about the programme.

For further enquiries, please email cheikh.fall@africtivistes.org.

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