Puntland Mirror Selected for CFA’s META Somalia Incubation Program

Garowe-(Puntland Mirror) Puntland Mirror, a news provider based in Garowe, the capital of Puntland, Somalia, has been selected to join the Code for Africa (CFA) Fact-checking initiative. This program, in partnership with Meta, aims to build fact-checking desk sustainability in selected newsrooms in Somalia through a newsroom incubation program.

On June 13, the Puntland Mirror editorial team, along with the Federal of Somali Journalists (FESOJ)—the only other newsroom selected from Somalia—participated in an interactive and enlightening orientation session facilitated by senior officers from Code for Africa (CFA). During the session, the team was briefed on the program details and its scheduled duration over the next six months.

The Puntland Mirror team views this partnership, along with the training and mentorship offered by the Code for Africa META incubation program, as a golden opportunity for its editorial and reporting growth and success. Mohamed Omar, Editor-in-chief of Puntland Mirror, stated, “As a team, we have been working towards such a golden opportunity, and it has arrived at the right time. This happened through our newsroom’s commitment and dedication. It’s a golden moment for us.”

The Editor-in-chief further stated that the new partnership between CFA and Puntland Mirror would enhance collaboration and build trust between the two organizations. “Puntland Mirror’s two senior editors and reporters will benefit from this new training and mentorship program, which will last six months. This opportunity will boost our newsroom’s fact-checking capacities and development for the first time, and it will change how we narrate news and reports in the future,” he said.

Puntland Mirror, formally established on December 9, 2014, by qualified journalists to serve the greater nation of Somalia and Puntland citizens in particular, has been covering various reports mainly focused on security, business, politics, and humanitarian stories. The content of Puntland Mirror has been cited by major African and Western media outlets, including The Washington Post, Bloomberg, and other well-known outlets.

Code for Africa (CFA) is Africa’s largest network of civic technology and data journalism laboratories. It operates as a non-partisan ‘change agent,’ offering software engineering, data science, forensic analysis, and editorial production support. It also provides hands-on skills development, seed-funding, and business development services designed to strengthen digital democracy by empowering citizens with actionable information and amplifying their voices, while also enhancing civic engagement for improved public governance and accountability.