We are proud to announce the inaugural Piga Firimbi Fact-Checking Fellowship: a fully funded, nine-month programme designed to identify and train 10 emerging journalists with the tools, skills, and editorial support to produce professional-grade multimedia fact-checks for real audiences.
Misinformation does not wait. It spreads in seconds, distorts public perception and responses, shapes elections, and erodes trust in institutions. Across East Africa, the gap between the speed of false narratives and the capacity to debunk them has never been wider. Piga Firimbi — Swahili for “blow the whistle” — was founded on the conviction that well-trained, courageous journalists are the most powerful antidote to this crisis.
This fellowship comes with a certificate and a curated portfolio of published work for career development.
What Fellows Will Do
This is not a passive training programme. From day one, fellows will become working journalists with editorial responsibilities. Each fellow will produce a minimum of four multimedia fact-checks per month for 9 months— a combination of longform investigative articles and short-form explainer videos — published under the Piga Firimbi banner and distributed across our partner platforms.
Fellows will investigate viral claims, political statements, statistical assertions, and misinformation using industry-standard verification methodologies including open-source intelligence (OSINT), data journalism, and source verification. All work is subject to editorial review and published to our verified audience.
What the Fellowship Provides
- Structured Training: Intensive workshops covering verification tools, video production, data journalism, and editorial standards.
- Monthly Stipend: A stipend to support your participation throughout the 9-month fellowship period.
- Expert Mentorship: Hybrid one-on-one mentorship from senior journalists and fact-checkers throughout the programme.
- Regional Network: Access to Africa Uncensored’s partners for cross-border collaborative investigations.
Fellowship Timeline
Month 1: Intensive training on verification methodology, OSINT tools, video journalism, source ethics, and media law. Fellows begin their first supervised fact-check assignment.
Month 2–9: Production: Fellows pitch, report, and produce original fact-checks with editorial mentorship. Produced pieces will be published to the Piga Firimbi platform upon editorial approval.
Month 5–9 · Investigative deep-dive. Each fellow produces a flagship digital investigation as a multimedia project on a relevant topic, with full editorial support.
Who Should Apply
This fellowship is for students or recent graduates based in Nairobi and its environs: Currently enrolled University/College students (Year 2 and above) in journalism, communications, media studies, or related fields, or a recent graduate (within 3 years of graduation) from a recognized University/College in East Africa.
To qualify, you need to have:
- An interest in journalism, fact-checking, or investigative reporting, preferably with a body of work that shows this.
- A personal computer.
- Strong written and spoken English; additional proficiency in Swahili or other regional languages is an advantage.
- Ability to commit at least 20 hours per week to fellowship activities for the full 9-month period
- A genuine commitment to accuracy, editorial independence, and public interest journalism
Why Now
The 2026-2030 electoral cycle across Africa, combined with the proliferation of AI-generated content and deepfakes, makes this moment the most critical in a decade for the development of robust local fact-checking capacity. Piga Firimbi has spent 3 years building the editorial infrastructure, the audience trust, and the partner network to make this fellowship meaningful. Now we need the people to power it.
If you believe in the power of verified information — and you are ready to do the work to produce it — we want to hear from you. Fill this form by 6th April 2026. The fellowship cohort begins 27th April 2025.
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