Rabiu Alhassan of FactSpace West Africa Elected to IFCN Board to Represent Africa

• Rabiu Alhassan, Founding Executive Director of FactSpace West Africa, won a seat on the International Fact-Checking Network board
• Alhassan cleared the 50%+1 threshold in a competitive multi-round election involving five other African candidates
• He will serve a three-year term starting October 1, voting on key IFCN decisions including verified member approvals

Rabiu Alhassan, the Founding Executive Director of FactSpace West Africa, has secured a seat on the board of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), with his term beginning October 1.

The IFCN, based at the Poynter Institute in the United States, connects over 170 fact-checking organisations globally, working to uphold editorial standards, accountability in journalism, and information integrity across the world.

Alhassan was the only African candidate to clear the required 50%+1 threshold after the first round of a rigorous, multi-stage election that included both regional and global votes. Five other candidates contested the two available Africa seats, but none met the majority threshold. As a result, the IFCN is expected to hold a separate election in 2027 to fill the remaining Africa seat.

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Other newly elected board members include Ritu Kapur for South Asia, Masato Kajimoto for Asia Pacific, Thanos Sitistas for Europe, Daniel Bramatti and Olivia Sohr for Latin America, Aws al-Saadi for the MENA region, and Lori Robertson for North America.

In his three-year term, Alhassan will help guide the IFCN through what the network has described as a period of uncertainty, innovation, and renewal. He will vote on all significant matters of IFCN direction, including the approval of verified member applications and renewals.

Commenting on what his priorities would be, Alhassan said: "I hope to promote equitable partnerships in the face of major power imbalances in the information integrity ecosystem, highlight the severe lack of local-language AI moderation tools particularly in this part of the world and help build sustained public trust in fact-checking."

Alhassan's Contribution to Fact-Checking in Africa

Alhassan's election reflects years of consistent engagement with the global fact-checking community. He has participated in several IFCN working groups, including the Anti-Harassment Working Group, the YouTube Working Group, and the Financial Sustainability Working Group, each of which produced outcomes of significance for fact-checkers worldwide.

On the continent, he has grown FactSpace West Africa into a credible force in the information integrity space since founding the organisation in 2019. The organisation holds signatory status under the IFCN Code of Principles, considered the gold standard in fact-checking, and has operations across Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia.

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A notable milestone under his leadership was the co-hosting of the 2024 Africa Facts Summit in Accra, the annual fact-checking conference convened by Africa Check.

Alhassan is a journalist and media entrepreneur with 17 years of experience spanning television, radio, print, and digital platforms. He holds an Erasmus Mundus master's degree in Journalism, Media and Globalisation, with a specialisation in Business and Finance, earned jointly from City St. George's University of London and Aarhus University in Denmark.

Source: YEN.com.gh