This Sentinel Focus feature highlights John Otunga, Project Co-ordinator for The Sentinel Project’s (https://thesentinelproject.org/) Una Hakika initiative. Una Hakika (Swahili for ‘Are you sure?’) is a program launched in 2013 to use telecommunications in Kenya’s violence-prone Tana Delta in order to counter misinformation which contributed to several massacres and heightened inter-communal tensions.
John’s job involves living and working within the Tana Delta, developing contact networks, investigating reports of misinformation and responding to the community need for accurate, fast and reliable information in order to counter the instability which leads to violence. In this feature John discusses Una Hakika’s challenges, successes and the unique role of the program in peace-building.