From 15 to 17 May 2025, the Tâche d’Encre association is organising the 8th Coco’Bulles international press cartoon and comic strip Festival in Côte d’Ivoire. The event, held in Treichville, Abidjan, combines a diverse programme of exhibitions, training sessions, workshops, conferences and live drawing sessions, aiming to offer a complete and enriching experience for all participants.
After taking part in four editions of the festival, Cartooning for Peace is joining forces for this 8th edition with the support of the City of Paris, the French Institute and CFI.
With just a few months to go before the country’s presidential elections, the theme of this 8th edition is the fight against misinformation, bringing together journalists and fact-checkers for round-table discussions on misinformation during election periods. There will also be a time for meetings and exchanges between young Ivorians and political parties. Live press cartoon sessions are also scheduled, offering a unique perspective on the various Coco’Bulles events. Alongside their Ivorian counterparts, international press cartoonists are also taking part in practical workshops organised with students.
Press cartoons are a powerful vehicle for providing information and raising awareness. Through humour and often an offbeat take on the subject, press cartoons amuse, challenge, question and even disturb the reader. How do press cartoons support efforts to combat misinformation on the African continent? This round-table discussion opens up the debate and sheds new light on both the potential of press cartoons in the face of misinformation and the challenges they face on the African continent, through the intersecting views of press cartoonists, fact-checking journalists and those involved in Media and Information Education (MIE). This round-table discussion is part of a pilot experiment in illustrating fact-checking reports with press cartoons developed by the ‘Cartooning for Africa Fact’ project, implemented by Cartooning for Peace in partnership with Africa Check and the fact-checking organisations Balobaki Check (DRC) and Zimfact (Zimbabwe), with the support of Canal France International (CFI).
With the participation of:
As part of the ‘Cartooning for Africa Facts’ project to help combat disinformation and hate speech on the African continent, run in partnership with CFI and Africa Check, Cartooning for Peace is inviting two of the project’s partner fact-checkers (Africa Check and Balobaki Check) and international press cartoonists to Coco’Bulles. Press cartoons as a tool in the fight against misinformation and as a means of raising awareness are being given particular prominence: an international press cartoon competition with a special Cartooning for Peace prize on the theme of Elections, fake news and consequences is being organised.
Finally, a practical guide to fact-checking for the general public and professional fact-checkers, produced in partnership with Africa Check and Zimfact, is being published and distributed online in the festival’s framework. Download (for free) the illustrated fact-checking manual ‘Cartooning for Africa Facts’.
