The "Election Promise Accountability" Lab Launched in Um al-Tut Village

SadaNews - The "Election Promise Accountability" training camp has launched in the Um al-Tut reserve, Jenin district, organized by the "Daraya" Media Education Foundation, the "Taqin" fact-checking platform, the "Sada Social" platform for defending digital rights, and the Palestinian observatory "Tahaqqaq".

The camp activities began on Thursday, April 16, and are expected to continue for three consecutive days, just days before the Palestinian local elections.

The lab aims, according to the organizers, to equip 20 male and female journalists, and those interested in the field of fact-checking, with essential skills in this area, monitoring election promises, and understanding how to evaluate and analyze them, in addition to the basics of digital security in the context of the electoral process.

In this context, Anas Huwaidi, the founder of the "Taqin" platform for fact-checking, confirms that the training is a fundamental pillar in the electoral process, given the dangers that misleading information poses to the integrity of the democratic process. He emphasizes the need for concerted efforts to succeed in the verification process and combat misinformation, which can be achieved through the training camp and by providing the twenty trainees with the necessary skills.

Meanwhile, Dr. Bakr Abdul Haq, the director of the Palestinian observatory "Tahaqqaq", reveals the intention of the organizing institutions to launch a platform for analyzing election promises, based on a methodology that extends international methodologies in this context, focusing on evaluating election promises according to five criteria. This platform will be supported by an artificial intelligence tool that will analyze these promises under human supervision and categorize them according to geographic location and competing lists, making them available to the public before the election day in the Palestinian local elections.

Iyas Al-Rifai, the director of the "Sada Social" platform, points out that Palestine has not had a significant opportunity in the era of digitization to practice the democratic process. He adds, "Therefore, it is important today to work on building digital capacities that include security and protection and verification of news in the context of the electoral process."

It is worth mentioning that the training lab is organized at the Youth Environmental Learning Center in Um al-Tut reserve, Jenin district, and includes psychological unloading activities for participants and recreational events.