In the run-up to the launch of its citizen-led lab: AfricTivistes equips the Project Team in Mauritania
In Nouakchott since 13 February, six trainers, members of AfricTivistes, have trained and equipped seventeen young Mauritanians in techniques for gathering, producing and verifying media content. This knowledge-sharing is fundamental to the implementation of the AfricTivistes Citizen Lab Mauritania, a project that will be led from start to finish by change-makers from different parts of the country. As part of the programme, the participants were trained to use the project’s dedicated platform, which will feature reflections and ideas on citizenship and the strengthening of democracy.
Over five days, between 13 and 17 February 2023, AfricTivists from Dakar and Abidjan shared their knowledge with young Mauritanians committed to strengthening democracy in their country.
This is the second capacity-building session for the team that makes up the think tank known as ‘AfricTivistes CitizenLab Mauritania’, following the one held between 10 and 13 January 2023 in Nouakchott. This second phase of training focused primarily on familiarising participants with and learning to use the technical tools (web platform, mobile app); it also covered the conceptualisation, editorial development and production of high-quality content. Not to mention the sharing of knowledge on cybersecurity and digital hygiene.
Drawing on collective intelligence, the AfricTivistes facilitators initially sought to help members of the Project Team in Mauritania understand how they could work together to develop citizen-led initiatives and run advocacy campaigns, whilst prioritising digital tools.
AfricTivistes’ Communication and Advocacy unit, which was responsible for sharing its expertise in this area, showed them how to design a values-based content strategy and how to develop an online advocacy strategy. To this end, the trainers ensured that all participants had a shared understanding of the AfricTivistes CitizenLab Mauritania Project, emphasising that it involves the development of ideas, projects and digital solutions with a significant social impact to promote citizen participation, co-creation and participatory management. And that their target audience was young people, social movements, non-governmental organisations, civil society organisations, public authorities, etc.
With this in mind, the Project Team in Mauritania was reminded that it should produce clear and constructive messages for the country and Mauritanian society, free from prejudice and sensationalism. It was also emphasised that the debates held on this platform would take place with strict respect for diversity of opinion and democracy, as provided for in the Mauritanian constitution.
This session enabled the various participants to identify the different relevant areas in which they will be able to work. The participants also gained a clear understanding of the content they will be producing and the formats it will take. They were also taught fact-checking and crowdsourcing techniques.
A session on research and data collection techniques was also held to enable them to document their work thoroughly.
Subsequently, a session was also held to familiarise participants with the technical platforms for dissemination (web and mobile). On this occasion, the AftricTivistes IT team presented version 0 of the platform to members of the Project Team in Mauritania, whilst also gathering their views and suggestions on the tool.
On the final day of the session, Friday 17 February 2023, the Project Team was prepared to deal with online threats. A session was devoted primarily to cyber security and digital hygiene. This enabled them to assess their level of vulnerability and provided them with techniques to protect themselves online. Finally, to present their work more effectively and make it accessible and understandable to their target audiences, the participants attended a short session on data visualisation.
As a reminder, this second training session follows on from the first, which took place between 10 and 13 January 2023 in Nouakchott as part of the AfricTivistes CitizenLab Mauritania project. During this first session, the project team in Nouakchott received four (4) days’ training on civic engagement, civic participation and digital campaigning. This led to the decision to develop the project’s web platform, voice app, web TV, newsletter, news magazine and training programmes tailored to the target audiences.
