By Nubeh Nai Vonna

Team Bamenda of #defyhatenow’s Africa Fact-checking Fellowship AFF Cameroon cohort 5 has sensitized the inhabitants of Bamenda on the role of families in mitigating hate speech given it is the smallest and most important unit of our society.

This was during a meet up exercise which took place on Thursday November 4 2021 over the airwaves of Ndefcam radio station situated at Ghana Street in Bamenda

The sensitization campaign against hate speech lasted for over an hour during the radio’s breakfast show ‘Morning Tour’ anchored by Akumbom Elvis McCarthy, and had hundreds of listeners some of whom called to participate while others confirmed they are tuned in through WhatsApp messaging.

AFF Cameroon cohort 5 team Bamenda

The program seeked to address the dangers of hatespeech and the role of families in combating this social ill.

Amamboh Carrey Pride Asongu is a cohort 5 fellow and team lead for Bamenda crew.

“We believe that child upbringing or home training has an influence on us as we grow up so i think that if parents educate their kids on how to address people and communities online an offline, then we would be able to mitigate the spread of hate speech” she notes.

Aside Carrey Pride, team members notably Nai Vonna, Verina Mondua and Bahiru Adamu also enlightened the public on social media codes of conduct in mitigating hate speech, differences between hate speech and insults and the importance of verifying information before sharing fact checking.

These fellows and counterparts from other regions, are undergoing a 3 months mentorship under Defyhatenow, during which are expected to be ambassadors in the fight against hate speech, fake news and promote fact checking in the society.

#defyhatenow initiative was founded in 2014 with vision of providing community-based and data-driven solutions to the problems of hate speech, disinformation and misinformation.