CHARM: Consortium to protect and promote human rights and media freedom in Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa is home to some of the world’s worst civic space conditions, which means that the majority of people are denied their rights to organise to fight for a common goal and take part in democratic dissent. The region is commonly known for its authoritarian leaders who impose a combination of legal and practical constraints on full enjoyment of fundamental rights. The most common civic space restrictions in the past years have been marked with excessive use of force by security forces against protesters, attacks on journalists, disruption of protests and censorship.

Civic actors such as journalists, human rights defenders and protest leaders on the ground are likely the ones who bear the brunt of assault on fundamental freedoms, while women and those advocating for women’s rights, labour rights, sexual rights and environmental rights are most affected. A free and vibrant media and civil society are key agents of democracy, consequently media and rights-based civil society organisations’ activities are often the first to be restricted.

What we do

Against this backdrop, Fojo Media Institute has teamed up with five other organisations to protect democratic space and to build resilience for civil society organisations, human rights defenders and independent media in this volatile region.

Together we started a project that is implemented by the Consortium for Human Rights and Media in Africa (CHARM), composed of: CIVICUS, Civil Rights Defenders, Defend Defenders, Fojo Media Institute, Hub Afrique, and Wits Journalism. The Consortium works to confront shrinking space with joint actions by strengthening civil society, media and human rights defenders and promoting coalitions.

Apart from the overall cooperation, Fojo Media Institute has developed a close cooperation with Wits Journalism, one of the leading media education centres in Africa, as well as with Africa Check, African Women in Media (AWiM), Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN), Magamba and TI-K. Together we engage in a number of activities to promote free, independent and professional journalism in Sub-Saharan Africa. Activities include conducting four studies related to the aims of the project, particularly on media and gender, investigative journalism hubs, journalism education centres and sustainable journalism. Furthermore, together with partners we continue working on:

• strengthening fact checking initiatives by partnering with Africa Check, the leading fact checking institution in Sub-Saharan Africa;
• supporting regional gender equality and learning in the media sector by partnering with African Women in Media (AWiM);
• establishing a consortium think tank to develop coalition building between media, civil society and human rights defenders with the other members of the Consortium;
• initiating a project to develop and connect the leading journalism education centres with the leading investigative journalism hubs in Sub-Saharan Africa
• supporting investigative journalism in Sub-Saharan Africa by partnering with the Global Initiative for Investigative Journalism (GIJN)
• defend civic space and promote free expression through the use of digital media and civic tech in collaboration with partners in several countries in Subsaharan Africa with the Magamba Network
  
• enhance journalists´ access to resources, tools and information to cover corruption with Transparency International Kenya
• establishing regional cooperation on innovation related to media development by creative media tech hubs and start-ups in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The project is funded by Sida and runs from 2019 until 2023. Coordination support for the project is provided by CIVICUS.