A South Sudanese rights group said Tuesday it has trained 50 community members in the town of Bor, Jonglei State, to identify and combat misinformation, an initiative it calls crucial for maintaining social cohesion in a country vulnerable to false narratives.
The organization Digital Rights Frontlines, in partnership with Journalists for Human Rights, held the media literacy training as part of a multi-state project titled “Strengthening Community Resilience Against Harmful Information in South Sudan.”
Participants in the Jonglei state capital included community leaders, civil society actors and journalists. They were equipped with skills to critically assess and verify information, the group said.
South Sudan has struggled with political instability and intercommunal violence, and experts say harmful information spread via social media can exacerbate tensions.
“This training is going to be helpful because I will use this opportunity to engage my community on how information can be passed,” said Rhoda Nyankiir, acting chairlady of the Jonglei Women’s Network. “Some misinformation leads to violence, disunity, and division among communities.”
Nyankiir told Radio Tamazuj that she plans to use the new knowledge to identify and counter misleading information that targets or divides women’s groups.
Peter Kuol Kuch, a journalist with Radio Voice of Reconciliation, said verifying information has been a challenge, especially with unvetted content spreading rapidly online.
“Sometimes, we pick something from social media, and it’s hard to know whether it’s true,” he said. “This training helped me understand how to verify information quickly without compromising journalistic integrity.”
Samson Ngor Wal, a trainer with Digital Rights Frontlines, said the project aims to strengthen the capacity of local organizations to handle information accurately.
“In the digital age, information has become detrimental to the communities if it is misused,” Ngor said. “We hope once they depart from this training, they will deliver to the community.”
The project is being implemented across five states in South Sudan: Jonglei, Western Equatoria, Upper Nile, Western Bahr El Ghazal and Unity State. The groups plan to train 50 community members in each location.