IMPACT — Engaging Digital Media for Active Conflict and Tension Prevention

Engaging Digital Media for Active Conflict and Tension Prevention (IMPACT) — is a sub-regional conflict prevention and peacebuilding initiative being implemented in West Africa over a 24-month period. Funded by the European Union through the Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace (IcSP), the project is led by a consortium of five organisations combining legal, technological, media and civic expertise. It forms part of AfricTivistes’ strategic vision to strengthen democracy, human rights and civic participation through digital technologies.

Context

In Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea, election periods have been marked by the widespread circulation of false information, the manipulation of audiovisual content, coordinated disinformation campaigns, ethnic or politically motivated hate speech, and the exploitation of social media for the purposes of violent mobilisation. The explosion in the use of Facebook, WhatsApp, TikTok and YouTube has profoundly altered the mechanisms of information dissemination, creating an environment conducive to communal tensions, political polarisation and the erosion of social cohesion.

Approach

The project works with content creators and information disseminators — online journalists, bloggers, cyber-activists and civil society organisations — across four complementary areas: fact-checking and combating disinformation, preventing digital conflicts through the early detection of tensions and the monitoring of hate speech, protecting human rights online, and generating knowledge and advocacy aimed at legislators and public authorities.