Fact-checking coordinator for a Project supporting local media in the Western Balkans

CFI is looking for a Service Provider for the provision of international expertise in Fact-checking in the Western Balkans.

CFI, the French media development agency, works to promote the development of media worldwide, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Arab world and countries in the vicinity of the European Union. We engage with the media to foster dialogue between local authorities and citizens, in order to enable people to be as well-informed as possible. The fight against misinformation, the promotion of equality between women and men, protection of the environment, the promotion of democracy and community engagement are all central to what we do.

Due to recent developments (COVID-19 and Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine), the phenomenon of disinformation, already considered endemic throughout the Western Balkans, is increasing. The study of the region’s media landscape from 2018 to 2022 revealed four key disinformation challenges: (1) antipathy toward the EU and frustration around the accession process; (2) revived nationalist narratives; (3) disinformation about the Russian invasion of Ukraine; and (4) the increasing use (and influence) of disinformation around elections and referenda.

In this context, CFI is implementing an 18-month Project, to be deployed in Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina aiming to promote media capacity building in fact-checking and increase the accountability and reliability of print, broadcast, online media and CSOs.

The Service Provider shall:

• Follow up on the call for applications process launched among the independent media in the region for the development/strengthening of their fact-checking units in order to select six (6) beneficiaries. This process involves:
  • The preparation of the selection committee of the call for applications led by CFI (Proposition of an evaluation methodology); Facilitation and participation to the committee meetings; Steering of bid evaluation; Participation to the review and evaluation of technical proposals, and if necessary, participation in the final arbitrations under the direction of CFI);
  • The participation in the drafting of financing agreements: comment of the content of the contract at every stage, including validation of objectives, results, activities, indicators of achievement and means of verification proposed by the beneficiaries, and if necessary, support for their initial revision according to comments made by the selection committee.
• Steering of additional technical expertise in fact-checking dedicated to the Project:
  • Definition and monitoring of the training and mentoring plan;
  • Support to the definition of the selected beneficiaries’ needs and to the identification of other potential beneficiaries (possibility of opening the trainings to all interested media) in connection with the local partners of the Project and the Project/consortium management staff;
  • Creation of training and mentoring content for each beneficiary of the call;
  • Definition of the different training formats (online/on-site training/training plan adapted to the format)
  • Training and mentoring each beneficiary according to the format defined
  • Specify the need for additional local expertise to carry out the training and mentoring plan, defining the terms of reference and coordinating the workload under CFI’s supervision;
  • Steering and implementation of training and mentoring (face-to-face/remote) in conjunction with local expertise;
  • Participation to the technical follow-up of the beneficiaries’ reports: proofreading and annotations.

All these Services will be done under the supervision of CFI and implemented after validation of the created contents and documents by CFI’s Project Manager.

• Ensure the coherence of these Services within the Project, providing transparent information throughout the entirety of the Services on the progress of the call and trainings. upon request and when necessary, share the documents created with the experts and media involved with CFI’s Project Manager in order to create a global sharing of information within all activities implemented by CFI.
• Contribution to the transversal activities of the Project upon request and as much as necessary and according to the assigned means: participation to the steering committee of the Project at the request of CFI, contribution to the communication and visibility strategy of the Project, contribution to the final evaluation of the activities through the Service Provider’s final report and discussions on it with CFI.

The term of the Contract is eleven (11) months from the date of signature by the last of the two Parties.