ID: 1863
Presenting Author: Kenneth Chukwu
Session: 552 - Accelerating with Integrity: Strengthening Social Impact Assessment in the face of urgency and misinformation
Status: pending
The study examines disinformation’s impact on intervention projects in Nigeria, revealing its harm to data integrity and stakeholder trust, and proposing frameworks for sustainable, information-secure
ABSTRACT
Intervention projects in Nigeria face growing challenges from disinformation that undermines credibility, distorts assessments, and weakens stakeholder trust. This study explores how disinformation affects the implementation and evaluation of multilateral, bilateral, and NGO-funded initiatives across the Southeast geopolitical zone (2020–2024). Using a mixed-methods approach, a survey of eight international organizations, analysis of fifty disinformation narratives, and case studies of three disrupted interventions; the research reveals that disinformation skews baseline data, erodes community confidence, and generates economic losses through approximately 4–8-month delays, security expenses, and re-engagement costs. Common tactics observed include fabricated claims about project benefits, falsified corruption allegations, manipulated images and videos, and politically or ethnically motivated misinformation. The paper proposes an integrated framework embedding disinformation risk analysis into Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIAs), with verification protocols for high-risk data collection and metrics for evaluating information integrity. It recommends pre-project information mapping, real-time monitoring, anticipatory communication, and local capacity-building to counter false narratives. By framing information integrity as central to project sustainability and evaluation accuracy, this study advances methodologies for assessing development effectiveness in disinformation-prone environments and offers actionable tools for policymakers, practitioners,
Researchers in sustainable social development, specializing in communication, risk management, and environmental standards focusing on strengthening credible, data-driven international development fra
Coauthor 1: JudeAnthony Ogbulie