Digital Democracy Fellowship Program in Kenya

CRECO Kenya will facilitate the first Digital Democracy Fellowship among young professionals as a way to promote engagement, education, and activism in the field of digital democracy through a dedicated digital democracy guide and sourcebook. They will establish a rigorous application process that includes motivation letters, interviews, and references to select dedicated and passionate young ambassadors of digital democracy. This fellowship programs involves training, mentorship, society readings and support fellows to conduct community outreach program where fellows can engage young persons in or out of school on digital democracy issues, including the importance of media literacy, digital security and online civic engagement.

This program seeks to facilitate collaboration between college/university students, journalists, content creators and activists on topics such as data privacy, digital security, fact-checking, debunking fake news and online activism. The CRECO Kenya digital democracy resource persons will conduct a weekly online session for one week in six months while also leveraging the expertise of young professionals. A performance evaluation system shall assess the impact of the fellowship program and identify areas for improvement, recognize and celebrate the achievements of fellows through award of completion certificates during a national stakeholders’ symposium dubbed “The Youth Factor in Digital Democracy in Kenya”.

CRECO Kenya invites dedicated and passionate young ambassadors of digital democracy between age18-35 years, in college, university or working for civil society organization or media in any of the 47 Counties of Kenya to join the six-month fellowship. A total of 50 young professionals interested in promoting online hygiene will be selected to join the program. A gender ratio of 50:50 and an affirmation action will be applied to have at least 5 PWDs recommended by the United Disabled Persons of Kenya join the fellowship running from July 2024 to December 2024.

Online Workshop Sessions 

• Fifty (50) participants will be selected to join the six months program that will involve training, mentorship, society readings and support of fellows to conduct community outreach activities where fellows will engage young persons in or out of school on digital democracy issues, including the importance of media literacy, digital security and online civic engagement during the fellowship program.
• This program will entail an inception virtual training workshop for all selected participants on how to work together effectively; follow-up online training and mentorship sessions on specific topics; society readings, collaborative projects between the fellows to produce communication outputs for community outreach; and events that bring the fellows together to showcase their work with the general public during the national stakeholders’ symposium to be held in Nairobi.
• During the program, participants will then co-produce communication outputs based on their digital area of interest such as stories, podcasts, Twitter threads, blog posts, short videos, MoJo videos and others.

Funding Information

• The total grant amount for this opportunity is EUR 17000. Successful applicant will be required to cater to their internet bundles for the duration of the fellowship.

Eligibility Criteria

• CRECO Kenya is targeting dedicated and passionate young ambassadors of digital democracy between age18-35 years drawn from:
  • College/University students exposed to and passionate on digital democracy.
  • Young professional digital journalists or reporters focusing on fake news or mis/disinformation.
  • Young activists working for human rights, legal, democracy or governance civil society or community-based organizations
  • Passionate digital content creators, human rights defenders or freelance journalists from different disciplines working on topics related to human rights, democracy, governance or law.
• They particularly encourage early-stage career journalists, activists and content creators to apply.

For more information, visit CRECO.