Training of Civil Society Organization Leaders by the #DefyHateNow Team on the use and implementation of the #defyhatenow Social Media Hate Speech Mitigation Field Guide in Cameroon

On February 12th and 13th 2021 at the Muna Foundation in Yaounde, the #defyhatenow team of the Organization r0g_agency for Open Culture & Critical Transformation trained Civil Society Organization leaders from the different regions in the Country on how to use and implement their Social Media Hate Speech Mitigation Field Guide.

The #defyhatenow Social Media Hate Speech Mitigation Field Guide offers digital tools and strategies to be used in grassroots communities & online campaigns for peacebuilding around the world. The “Field Guide” offers snapshots of local contexts, overview of grassroots projects and methodologies. It is designed for use ‘in the field’ with related training materials and workshop resources to raise awareness, develop counter narratives & mitigate violence related to online hate speech.

“Incitement to violence is very specific, in that it needs strategic action to counter and requires community leaders and citizens to become involved and engaged in direct actions to mitigate the threat of violence erupting. While hate speech can form a basis for incitement, one can still use personal strategies to engage with speakers, bring down the tone of rhetoric and shift attitudes. Group strategies are needed to respond as a community to dangerous speech online and mitigate the factors contributing to violence offline”.  Stephen Kovats, r0g_agency, Berlin – Germany

The Field Guide is developed and compiled by the #defyhatenow initiative with selected excerpts from materials published by collaborative partner organisations & networks, 2015–2020.

#defyhatenow is an urgent community peacebuilding, training and conflict reconciliation project that aims to amplify and strengthen the voices and support the actions of civil society, youth and IDP/refugee organisations in South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Cameroon, Ethiopia, neighbouring regions and the global diaspora online.