Stakeholder dialogue: Enabling a coalition of stakeholders to combat disinformation in Ghana’s 2024 Elections

The dialogue is anchored in electoral disinformation research carried out by PenPlusBytes and RIA and seeks to build on similar dialogues held by Ghanaian CSOs on the issue of electoral disinformation.

As Ghana approaches its 2024 elections, the challenge of disinformation looms large, posing a serious threat to electoral integrity, social cohesion and democracy. This stakeholder dialogue aims to analyse the risks of disinformation in Ghana’s 2024 elections and map mitigation strategies, especially to build a vibrant and effective coalition of stakeholders working to counter electoral disinformation.

The core approach of this intervention is to enable effective collaboration between civil society, factcheckers, Election Management Bodies (EMBs), elections security task force, the Coalition of Domestic Observers, political parties and the media. It is premised on the notion that effective mitigation of electoral disinformation can be achieved by a coordinated approach to identifying, reporting and addressing electoral disinformation, in turn strengthening Ghana’s defences against these threats.

The Ghanaian Electoral Disinformation Dialogue is part of IMS and RIA’s electoral disinformation programme titled, A coordinated approach to ensuring public access to reliable information during elections in Africa. This project, which spans Tanzania, Mozambique and Ghana, aims to enhance public access to reliable information during electoral periods in Africa. This is expected to be achieved through effective coordination of national and regional initiatives that specifically target and counter digital disinformation, thereby strengthening the production and distribution of public interest journalism. Among others, the project’s key pillars include:

• Identify critical stakeholders and existing interventions that mitigate the negative impact of disinformation on the electoral processes in each country. 
• Use a coalition and network-building approach to coordinate and thereby enhance these actors’ efforts to influence the roles played by a diverse set of actors to ensure that the public has access to reliable information in the context of elections. 

Join the dialogue:

Topic: Coalition of stakeholders to combat disinformation – Ghana’s 2024 elections
Time: 12 November 2024, 09:00 AM GMT
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87866146107?pwd=QctEizjhjif3iDpXTCoQVaCE7rhgnU.1
Meeting ID: 878 6614 6107
Passcode: 186654