Africa Check Executive Director Noko Makgato has issued a direct challenge to the continent’s information integrity sector: build African-led structures that can actually deliver verified information to citizens, and do it with funding models that do not collapse when grant cycles end.
Speaking in Nairobi at a pan-African convening of fact-checkers, media professionals and information integrity stakeholders, Makgato used his closing remarks to press the case for a stronger collective African voice. The operational reality he described was sobering. Funding constraints and emerging digital threats continue to undermine the work of organisations tasked with providing citizens with reliable, verified information, and the pressure on the information ecosystem is intensifying as global developments unfold.
His central argument was one of implementation capacity. African organisations, he said, must strengthen their own platforms for cooperation and advocacy rather than depending exclusively on global initiatives. The goal, as he framed it, is an African platform capable of advancing the continent’s information integrity priorities on its own terms. The full context of his remarks is available in the original report at https://africabrief.substack.com/p/africa-check-calls-for-united-african.
The Nairobi gathering was structured around the practical questions that determine whether fact-checking operations survive and function. Discussions examined the sustainability of fact-checking initiatives, innovation, public trust, and the need for coordinated responses to threats affecting access to credible information.
Financial sustainability emerged as the dominant concern. Participants explored ways to reduce dependence on traditional grant funding, the model on which much of the sector currently runs. Among the approaches discussed was a proposed scaffolding approach to developing alternative funding models, a step-by-step method intended to help information integrity organisations sustain their operations over the long term. The underlying message was that African fact-checking organisations need to strengthen their financial resilience while maintaining their public-interest mission, a balance that many operators in the sector have found difficult to strike.
Technology and regulation formed the second pillar of the agenda. Participants examined the growing influence of artificial intelligence on Africa’s information environment and the specific challenges it presents for verification and accountability work. The discussions also covered platform regulation, the enforcement of digital policies in African countries, and coordinated responses to foreign information manipulation and interference. Each of these areas, participants noted, requires operational capacity on the ground, not just policy positions.
Makgato took time to assess the quality of what was delivered during the sessions. He praised the presentations, saying speakers had provided thought-provoking insights and practical ideas that participants could apply in their respective organisations. That emphasis on applicability reflected the convening’s broader orientation toward workable solutions rather than abstract commitments.
The gathering also served a delivery function of its own. It gave participants the opportunity to strengthen professional networks, exchange experiences, and explore collaborative approaches to shared challenges, the kind of coordination infrastructure that Makgato argued the sector needs to formalise.
In his closing remarks, Makgato acknowledged the operational support that made the event possible. He thanked the summit’s sponsors, including CFI, for backing efforts to strengthen Africa’s information integrity ecosystem. He also recognised the contributions of Africa Check staff, particularly the Nairobi-based team, including Alfons and colleagues, and singled out Hlalani for coordinating the gathering.
The meeting concluded with a renewed emphasis on collective action, sustainable funding, and African-led solutions to protect the public’s access to trustworthy information. For the organisations represented in Nairobi, the test now is execution: whether the alternative funding models discussed can be built, whether the African platform Makgato described can be developed, and whether coordinated responses to AI-driven manipulation and foreign interference can be put into practice.
Details of the next convening, including its dates and location, are expected to be communicated in due course.