Funding
PesaCheck is Africa's largest indigenous fact-checking organisation, debunking misleading claims and providing accurate information for sound decision-making
How We Are Funded
PesaCheck was founded with a seed grant from CfA's innovateAFRICA fund in 2017, and continues to be incubated and co-funded through the fund.
PesaCheck has in the past received direct financial support from the International Budget Partnership (IBP) for activities in Kenya, Google's tech-for-good arm Jigsaw for pan-African research and to tackle gender-focused fact-checking, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) for fact-checking health issues, the (now defunct) Data Zetu initiative and Twaweza for activities in Tanzania, and the U.S.-based International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) for activities across East Africa.
We received three project grants from IFCN over the past two years, to support fact-checking on Covid-19 issues and for research into persistent conspiracy claims on YouTube. PesaCheck also carries out paid third-party fact-checking for Meta on Facebook and Instagram, receives support costs from WhatsApp for operating a public tip-line on the platform, and receives occasional ad-hoc travel sponsorships, from organisations such as Access Now, Poynter, and Article 19, for its team to participate in fact-check gatherings.
Editorial Independence
PesaCheck does not have any institutional or remunerative relationships with governments, politicians or political parties. PesaCheck's training programmes do however receive support from state-funded international media development programmes in Germany (through the Deutsche Welle Akademie for skills development in Ethiopia, Ghana and Kenya, and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit for skills development in Kenya) and France (through the Agence Française de Développement for training across Francophone Africa).
PesaCheck also receives support from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to support the African Fact-Checking Alliance (AFCA) to seed-fund and train newsroom-based 'CheckDesks' in 270 media in 20 African countries, and from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for supporting election-focused fact-checking in Kenya. These partnerships explicitly exclude any donor influence over editorial decision-making or content production, and are confined to underwriting the cost of trainers/logistics, as well as to provide fellowship stipends for trainees.
Where PesaCheck has received funding, either directly or indirectly, related to a foreign government or one of its development agencies or sovereign funds, the terms of these grants include clauses that explicitly guarantee complete editorial control for PesaCheck.
Our Income
PesaCheck's income from July 2018 to June 2019 was $175,780 which paid for a team of 11 researchers, fact-checkers and editors working out of offices in Dar es Salaam, Kampala and Nairobi.
