Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith, a reporter with A1 Radio, has been named one of 13 journalists from across West Africa selected for the 2026 Kwame Karikari Fact-Checking and Open-Source Intelligence Fellowship, a program aimed at building a regional bulwark against misinformation.
Smith is joined by two other Ghanaian journalists in this year’s cohort: Eric Marfo, an editor with the Ghana News Agency, and Clinton Yeboah of Luv FM, under the Multimedia Group. The remaining 10 fellows come from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and The Gambia.
The three-month fellowship, organized by DUBAWA and its research arm DAIDAC, kicks off June 1 and runs through Aug. 31, 2026.
The selection followed a rigorous process of applications, interviews, and evaluations before the chosen journalists gathered for an intensive three-day virtual training from May 6 to May 8. Organizers described the sessions, which covered fact-checking methodologies, media literacy, OSINT tools, and ethical reporting, as designed to “sanitise the information ecosystem” across the sub-region.
During the fellowship, participants will be paired with mentors to produce published fact-checks and OSINT investigations. Organisers say the goal is for each fellow to leave not just with sharpened individual skills but with the capacity to strengthen verification practices within their own newsrooms.
A central feature of the program is its emphasis on Open-Source Intelligence techniques (OSINT), methods that allow journalists to trace digital footprints, authenticate user-generated content, and identify coordinated disinformation campaigns. During the three-day training, trainers reiterated that information manipulation now threatens societal stability and that the fellowship gives regional journalists tools to counter it effectively.
The Fellowship is now in its eighth year. It was established in 2019 and named after Professor Kwame Karikari, a renowned Ghanaian media scholar and press freedom advocate. The 2025 cohort produced an award-winning investigation exposing what organizers called the “AES shadow game,” a coordinated disinformation operation spreading across West Africa.
DUBAWA operates in Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and The Gambia, and is an initiative of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development.
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