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Misinformation, disinformation, and false rumors are thriving during the global COVID-19 crisis. It creates an extremely harmful situation by degrading trust in health workers and humanitarian responders, and complicating effective decision making by individuals about critical matters during the health emergency. Access to accurate, accessible, and timely information is of paramount importance for the success of COVID-19 preparedness and response, especially in conflict-affected countries and among displaced populations.
During this webinar, part of the virtual edition of the ICT4D Conference and ongoing ICT4D webinar series, you will hear about three different initiatives using digital technologies to help fight misinformation. Speakers will also share how their applications relate to COVID-19 preparedness and response.
Lessons learned from initiatives:
1) Using Mobile Phones to Counter Harmful Misinformation in South Sudan and Uganda
The ongoing crisis in South Sudan has driven a third of the country's population from their homes, with 1,830,000 internally displaced and 2,290,000 living as refugees in neighboring countries as of April 2019. Hagiga Wahid is an ICT-based initiative that assists South Sudanese refugees to deal with incendiary rumors spreading within the camps, back at home, and those spread online by the diaspora.
2) Providing Life-Saving Information to Empower Refugees and Migrants in Crisis
Too often in humanitarian contexts, needed information is unavailable, inaccessible, or inaccurate and untrustworthy. This places people at higher risk of violence and exploitation. The design and implementation of information services in crisis contexts have traditionally been driven by those delivering aid and not by those affected. Signpost is a joint initiative between the IRC and other partners that was launched in Greece in 2015 to address arriving migrants and asylum seekers needs for reliable information in Europe. Since then, Signpost has expanded to eight countries, reaching nearly 1.5 million individuals, providing connectivity and user-focused information in the languages of target populations through context-appropriate channels including Facebook pages and groups, a blog, mobile app, and a website with an interactive service map. In partnership, the IRC and Google Jigsaw are addressing the critical need for Signpost as it is both responsive to people's needs and changing contexts, providing accessible, user-friendly channels that people affected by crisis and disaster can use with confidence.
3) Digital Tools Used Against Covid-19 Related Disinformation in Taiwan
In early 2020, the National Democratic Institute traveled to Taiwan to film a short documentary showcasing its civic tech partners, g0v, who developed some of the digital tech tools that led the fight against the spread of foreign disinformation in Taiwan's general election. In the few short months since the election, Taiwanese civic technologists continue using these tactics in their defense against COVID-19 related disinformation. As many countries are now sharing the burden of foreign produced disinformation around COVID-19, scaling these tools and the lessons learned to other civic technologists is incredibly important.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
John Green Otunga, East Africa Program Manager of Hagiga Wahid, The Sentinel Project. Hagiga Wahid, a mobile phone-based information service takes a participatory, community-based approach to monitoring and countering the spread of dangerous rumors. John is the founder of Amani Centre, a local organization that runs a community radio along with other ICT-for-peace projects in Kenya. In 2018, John won the Commonwealth Digital Challenge Award administered by Thomson Foundation-UK and got accredited by the Media Council of Kenya. He holds an MA in Project Planning and Management from the University of Nairobi and is currently pursuing an MA in Refugee Protection and Forced Migration at the University of London School of Advanced Studies.
Andre Heller, Director of Signpost, International Rescue Committee.
Victoria Welborn, Program Manager, National Democratic Institute. Victoria works on issues related to technology and innovation, following global topics that land at the intersection of open government and civic technology. Victoria works to find creative ways to help civic activists and government officials use technology to create more transparent governments, scale tech tools to counter disinformation, work to ensure that urban innovation does not come at the cost of State surveillance, and most recently, how the open government and civic tech communities can use technology to adapt to a COVID-19 reality. Prior to joining NDI, she worked on digital communications in Congress and for a political advertising firm. Victoria received a BA in experimental psychology at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas, where she wrote her capstone paper on analysis of cyber-bullying legislation.
Sonja Ruetzel, ICT4D Partnerships and Conference Manager, Catholic Relief Services. Sonja is leading the ICT4D Conference (currently in its Virtual Edition) on behalf of CRS and co-facilitating this monthly webinar series. Before joining the Global Knowledge and Information Management team at CRS, she was the Event & Program Director of the Aid & International Development Forum (AIDF). Sonja has over 15 years experience researching and managing global conferences, training courses, webinars, as well as reports and whitepapers in a wide range of industries, including finance, legal, health, technology, public and non-for-profit sectors. Prior to following her passion for professional development events, Sonja worked as researcher and editor at consultancy Control Risks. She holds a Masters degree in Public Policy and Management from University of Constance, Germany.
