Start of Implementation NAMA4PD

Exploratory activities in Ghana, The Gambia, and Senegal in 2021, funded and supported by Hanns Seidel Foundation, laid the foundation for the implementation of the NAMA4PD concept in the West Africa and Sahel region. A film documentary on the 2021 activities provides a good introduction to the concept.

In Senegal, the creation of an inter-religious and cross-sectoral conflict prevention task force began with the support of the Bavarian State Chancellery in September 2022 with the development of measures. Key elements were workshops with stakeholders from the police, military, media, economy, religion, womens groups, youth, culture, environment, non-governmental organisations, academia, politics and administration.

In 2024, the “Bànneexu Ndox” water desalination project in northern Senegal and near the Mauritania border is being developed in cooperation with Senegalese and German partners and is an ideal location for a social information hub as part of the NAMA4PD initiative.

The project, initiated by Project Lighthouse Africa, aims to strategically place water kiosks as social information hubs at important regional nodes. These hubs will serve as centers for regional engagement, providing reliable information and facilitating information exchange among the population. Additionally, they will help foster a proactive community response to potential threats from criminal or terrorist activities.

As a key milestone, Project Lighthouse Africa in close collaboration with Freie Universität Berlin and local Senegalese key stakeholders developed a NAMA4PD Train the Trainer program, which had been tested in a first training round in 2025. The participants with different organizations had been trained as multiplier to foster knowledge about anti-disinformation techniques and strategies, how to develop their own reliable narratives and informations to expand their networks.