Countering disinformation has been one of the focus areas in the TechSoup Global Network’s Digital Activism Program, providing multi-faceted support to civil society organizations (CSOs) in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Latin America, West Africa, and South Africa, since 2018.
We are excited to announce the launch of a new initiative within this strand of the program’s work in CEE. Together with our local partners, we focus on increasing the CSOs’ understanding of the issues connected with direct disinformation threats through research, strengthening their capacity to deal with disinformation, boosting their knowledge, and building connections within the nonprofit network.
We are working with those directly impacted by targeted disinformation campaigns: CSOs and their staff, frontline workers, teachers, and journalists. As well as with organizations working closely with vulnerable communities frequently targeted by propaganda, such as LGBTQ+, migrants and refugees, and other minority groups.
The main goal of our work within the program is to establish a strong network of CSOs and frontline workers equipped with technology, tools, and knowledge to identify and tackle disinformation threats in Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, and Slovakia.
Our work will include conducting research on disinformation threats in the region in the form of mapping reports, CSO sector challenges and needs diagnosis, and providing chosen CSOs with complex support, including training and workshops, individual consultations, community building events, small grants, and access to tools and tech solutions which will help them design effective disinformation response actions.
The above work in the CEE is partly supported by Google.org and is led by TechSoup Europe in close collaboration with TechSoup Global Network’s partners:
The Baltic Center for Media Excellence (BCME) and the Civic Resilience Initiative (CRI) in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia
Funky Citizens in Romania, Bulgaria, and Moldova
Metamorphosis Foundation in North Macedonia, Serbia, and Kosovo
NIOK (Nonprofit Információs és Oktató Központ) in Hungary
PDCS (Partners for Democratic Change Slovakia) in Slovakia
VIA Association in Czechia
The activities in Poland will be implemented by TechSoup Europe.
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