UN in Guinea-Bissau helps combating fake news to advance COVID-19 response

The website is called “Nobaschecker”, as Nobas is the Guiena-Bissau Crioulo Word for “News” and is managed by a Local Innovation Center, Innovalab. It gathers a  broad community of fact verifiers involving journalists, doctors, economists from Guinea-Bissau and around the world, the site aims to fighting misinformation and unmask false news around the pandemic by providing scientifically verified facts and news. 

The articles and videos are produced in both Portuguese and Crioulo, to allow a better dissemination of the information. The team also produces spots with the demystification of weekly fake-news, broadcast on 3 national radios. 

“There are a lot of information about the COVID-19, but not all of them are correct. False information (Fake news) can come from several forms: posts on social media, rumors in communities, radio speeches, comments made by public figures, printed statements. It is vital that everyone receives clear and factual information about Covid-19. In situations like this, it can cause unnecessary fear and - most importantly - it can lead people to ignore fundamental advice about symptoms or how to avoid infections.”, explains Claudinécia Cabral a young woman 

The platform managed by Innovalab is supported by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Guinea-Bissau and the United Nations Integrated Peace-building Office in Guinea Bissau (UNIOGBIS) (UNIOGBIS) with the financial support of the UN Peacebuilding Fund (PBF).

https://www.nobaschecker.org [2]