DUBAWA is Nigeria’s first indigenous independent verification and fact-checking project, a distinct project of the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ) and supported by the most influential newsrooms and civic organisations in the country to help amplify the culture of truth in public discourse, public policy, and journalistic practice. PTCIJ is a non-governmental organization, founded in 2014, to promote a truly independent media landscape that advances fundamental human rights, good governance and accountability in West Africa through investigative journalism, open data and civic technology.

Dear assessor [I don't know how else to contact you...], I cannot seem to find  any place "requesting action on criteria rated either as "partially compliant" or "non compliant"

Dubawa (https://dubawa.org/) is a project of the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ), which was founded in 2014. Dubawa was set up as a project of PTCIJ in 2017. (See attached official notarised document confirming this). The legally required Certificate of Incorporation for PTCIJ is also attached. (Companies and organisations require a Certificate of Incorporation to operate in Nigeria). Dubawa initially began operating in Nigeria and earlier this year it extended its fact-checking project to Ghana. Although part of PTCIJ, the project is supported by other newsrooms and civic organisations. Its stated aim is "to help amplify the culture of truth in public discourse, public policy, and journalistic practice". (For more detail see "About Us" https://dubawa.org/about-us/)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KQ_StRRZNgN9k6nnEqz193bEkV3gArVWMUuFNYhyJZo/edit?usp=sharing 

Dubawa publishes regular fact-checks on a wide range of issues on a very regular basis. (See attached spreadsheet of fact-checks).They often publish more than one fact-check on the day. They are most active in Nigeria. Although they only launched in Ghana this year - 2019 - the frequency of Ghanian fact-checks is slowly increasing. Dubawa's fact-checking process to check on the accuracy of claims follows recognised protocols and is clearly stated on their website. (https://dubawa.org/about-us/our-fact-check-process/) 

In summary, Dubawa maintains a strict writing style and structure based on the commonly accepted journalistic standards and IFCN's code of principles. It is clear, authoritative, factual, non-offensive, provides context and pays close attention to the processes of fact-checking. These are outlined in an internal document that is shared with all researchers and editors, while a summary version can be found on our website here.

The links -

https://dubawa.org/understatement-there-are-more-than-90-million-extremely-poor-nigerians/

https://dubawa.org/tbt-three-decades-ago-nigerias-per-capita-income-was-twice-that-of-chinas/ 

https://dubawa.org/false-an-igbo-boy-was-not-killed-in-a-muslim-community-in-kaduna-state/  

https://dubawa.org/no-there-will-be-no-clandestine-wedding-at-the-villa-today/

https://dubawa.org/false-only-two-nigerian-federal-universities-are-running-on-renewable-energy-not-seven/ 

https://dubawa.org/is-dss-authorized-to-make-arrests/ 

https://dubawa.org/do-we-finally-have-a-male-contraceptive-pill-on-our-hands-no/ 

https://dubawa.org/false-zambian-airport-staff-did-not-set-any-south-african-aircraft-on-fire/ 

https://dubawa.org/false-nestle-is-not-nigerias-most-profitable-company/ 

https://dubawa.org/ex-president-jonathans-education-budget-was-not-higher-than-president-buharis/ 

Dubawa fact-checks an impressively wide range of issues that include politics, claims by both politicians and public figures, health and medical issues, elections, social media posts and more. They do not overly concentrate on any one issue. The supplied links illustrate the wide variety of issues that are fact-checked. A further check on their site confirms this. (See "topics" in the drop-down menu under the "Fact-checks" tab on the home page).

Dubawa is an independent fact-checking and verification project of PTCIJ; PTCIJ being a non-governmental organization that engages in a wide variety of projects that are not limited to fact-checking [see website for more details]. As such, it does not have a policy regarding advocacy and support for political candidates. Nevertheless, Dubawa, as an independent project, has its own independence and full disclosure policy that is shared with its staff. The enclosed document contains all the information [which can also be found on the website].

Dubawa has a clearly-stated policy regarding the involvement of its staff in - or with - any political party or advocacy organisation. This policy is prominently displayed under an "Independence Policy" tab in the "About Us" section on its home page: (https://dubawa.org/about-us/independence-policy/) While accepting the right of individuals to be involved in politics, Dubawa makes it clear that non-partisan behaviour by a member of the team would reflect on the credibility of the organisation and others within it. As such it states clearly in its independence policy: "To this end, any team member who wants to contest elections or support/ sponsor a candidate in any form either by active campaigning or donating to a campaign fund; shall resign his/her position on the team. Dubawa and members of its team, as well as contributors and members of the governing and editorial board, shall, by all means, remain non-partisan. It also has a disclosure policy that is shared with all its staff. (See attached "Independence Policy" document).

Our sourcing policy is keenly guided by a five-layered evaluation mechanism that privileges:

- Named Sources as against unnamed sources

- Authoritative as against random sources

- Independent as against self-interested sources

- Verifiable as against assertive sources

- Multiple as against single sources

All our fact-checks also include links to the relevant sources of each information, and no fact-check is approved for publication without such. Find more about this on our page.

Dubawa has a clear policy on sources. (See "Our fact-checking process https://dubawa.org/about-us/our-fact-check-process/). Wherever possible, they link to sources in fact-checks. 

They state clearly the type of sources they use - and also those they do not consider credible.

* Named Sources as against unnamed sources;

* Authoritative as against random sources;

* Independent as against self-interested sources

* Verifiable as against assertive sources

* Multiple as against single sources

DUBAWA is currently funded by the MacArthur Foundation which seeks to strengthen investigative and data-driven journalism in Nigeria and Heinrich Boll Foundation which funds our Fellowship Programme. Facebook also funds some aspect of the project through its Third Party Factchecker program.

While we are open about reporting our funding support, the funders have absolutely no influence on our judgments and editorial decisions. Find out more on this page.

To be fully compliant, it is NB to state Dubawa's relationship to PTCIJ. I recommend that the following be added on the "Funding" page. (https://dubawa.org/about-us/funding/). 

"Dubawa is an independent fact-checking and verification project of the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism. (https://ptcij.org/). PTCIJ is a non-governmental organisation that engages in a wide variety of projects that are not limited to fact-checking. (hyperlink to https://ptcij.org/about/) 

https://dubawa.org/about-us/team/ 

RECOMMENDATION 

While the required information is all there on the "Team" page (https://dubawa.org/about-us/team/) it is not obvious that you can see peoples' bios by clicking on their photos.

I would suggest that a line be added on the "Team" page stating something like: "For bio details of a team member click on their photo".

https://dubawa.org/contact-us/ 

Full contact details, including a street address, are prominently displayed on the home page of the site under the "contact us" tab https://dubawa.org/contact-us/

https://dubawa.org/about-us/our-fact-check-process/ 

Dubawa's fact-checking process is clearly explained in an "Our fact-checking process" page that can be easily found in the "About Us" tab on the home page. The information supplied also explains what can and what can't be fact-checked. (https://dubawa.org/about-us/our-fact-check-process/)

https://dubawa.org/about-us/our-fact-check-process/ 

https://dubawa.org/contact-us/  

Details on how to submit claims for fact-checking via several channels - including email, Twitter and WhatsApp) Dubawa's fact-checking protocols - are supplied at the end of the "Our fact-check process" page (https://dubawa.org/about-us/our-fact-check-process/) What can and what can't be fact-checked is also explained on this page.

https://dubawa.org/about-us/our-fact-check-process/                          

Dubawa has a corrections policy that is clearly stated on the Our fact-check process page https://dubawa.org/about-us/our-fact-check-process/

Recommendation;

Make the corrections heading more prominent on the page by removing "Step 0" and making the "corrections" font bigger and in bold type.

We have only made one correction in the past year. Here's a link to that work: https://dubawa.org/yes-you-will-need-a-valid-id-when-travelling-though-some-n-e-states-not-the-whole-country/ 

Based on this example, corrections are clear and unequivocal

Recommendation

If this is not being done already, I would suggest that links back to corrections be posted on social media. Not only would it enhance Dubawa's credibility as an organisation that admits and fixes errors, but it would also increase the opportunity for those who might miss it to be made aware of the correction.