How does NAMA4PD work?

NAMA4PD operates by identifying divisive narratives in conflict-prone areas and countering their influence through strengthening local resilience.

Consistent bottom-up logic: Spreading disinformation and addressing information deficits starts with individual citizens on the ground and their individual communication habits.
habits. In the highly mobile, networked media environment of West Africa, they are often the first recipients and addressees of propaganda and fake news, making them key actors.
Therefore, they should be at the centre of communication efforts. The approach thus complements existing efforts to monitor disinformation, debunk false information or strengthen journalism.

A holistic approach to communication: NAMA4PD does not limit itself to isolated activities such as fact-checking, but aims to comprehensively empower the local population to become aware of their own role and responsibility as recipients and disseminators of communication and media content.

They should learn to formulate their own positive narratives about their identity, livelihoods and development goals in local languages, thereby becoming more resilient to manipulative narratives.

Extensive networking: As disinformation and propaganda generally exploit existing grievances and problems, for example by naming alleged culprits, communication measures alone cannot be successful in the long term.
measures alone cannot be successful in the long term. 

At the same time, they must build bridges to other projects (strengthening security, developing social and economic prospects for women and young people) in order to open up opportunities for people to overcome these real problems in a substantive way, beyond the development of empowering narratives.

Self-supporting, sustainable structure: NAMA4PD involves key local and regional stakeholders in all phases of the project – from gathering data on local media, social and economic conditions to developing appropriate communication skills interventions and implementing programmes. 

A train-the-trainer approach is used to ensure that local communities share and continually update their knowledge and skills with each other and with other communities, even without external help.

Scientifically based collection of current data on the local communication ecosystems, including influencer structures, communication channels and media usage patterns, as a basis for the communication and training measures to be developed.

Establishing and maintaining regional cross-sectoral and inter-religious networks with key actors, linking the local, national, regional and international levels, to anchor efforts to build peacebuilding information structures in local and regional society and to strengthen their sustainability.

Participatory development of train-the-trainer methods embedded in local cultures to identify disinformation, evaluate sources, strengthen media and communication skills to transfer knowledge to a wider circle of key actors, empower local actors to disseminate reliable information themselves through appropriate channels and the NAMA4PD network as a communicator.

Establish ‘social information hubs’, a combination of physical and digital locations where reliable information is shared and which also serve as an early warning system to identify disinformation, disruptive narratives, and the influence and destabilisation activities of radical, criminal and terrorist actors. 

Ideally, social information hubs should be physical places designed to allow people to meet and interact in a protected manner, and where, in addition to face-to-face conversations, technical infrastructures are available to store, leave, comment on, and share information with others.

Networking with projects and actors in neighbouring sectors, especially in the areas of “security” and “perspective development”. On the one hand, physical security is a key prerequisite for open and respectful communication and conflict resolution.

On the other hand, the defence against divisive and conflict-inflaming disinformation and propaganda contributes significantly to strengthening the sense of security. Moreover, the fight against communicative destabilisation can only be successful in the long term if the causes of conflict that can be exploited for propaganda and hatred are combated. Linking NAMA4PD measures with local development projects is therefore a core activity of the concept.