“The formal commitment of 27 youth organizations from South East Europe and Turkey to include MIL in their policies and activities is we hope going to be a game changer to further disseminate MIL knowledge among the youth in the region,” said Amela Sirovina, the Director of CROA.
Throughout the month of December 2020, 27 youth organisations from South East Europe and Turkey signed a Memorandum of Cooperation and Understanding committing to incorporate Media and Information Literacy (MIL) into their daily activities and policies. This achievement was facilitated by the Centre for Development of Youth Activism (CROA), a youth organization in Sarajevo and implementing partner of UNESCO within the EU-funded project “Building Trust in Media in South East Europe and Turkey – Phase 2.”
Not only did the 27 youth organisations commit to integrate MIL policies, they also established a regional network, which will help them to exchange best practices and experiences.“Having 27 organisations from the region unite in a joint MIL mission is a great achievement. We hope this will have a tremendous impact on the development, learning, socializing, and physical and mental health of young people in the region,” said Amela Sirovina.
In the months preceding the signing of the Memorandum, the youth organisations were sensitized on ways to introduce MIL in their policies through capacity building seminars. Notably, seven seminars on MIL were held through online tools and the training was provided in the respective local languages of the youth organisations. The material was developed by CROA according to the specific local needs, and it followed a five-step method – Access, Analyze, Create, Reflect, and Take Action.
“We wanted to receive MIL training and become a part of the regional network of youth organisations because the benefits are huge, especially in terms of networking, sharing experiences, and improving the work of our organization,” said Emir Pilav, a representative of the NGO Ciceron, a youth organization from Montenegro that participated in the project. “We believe that projects like these should be at the foreground – MIL represents a starting point for many further projects and activities based on youth policies. Such projects create a positive environment for young people, both at the local and national level, and this is the most important for us”.
In November 2020, the organisations had already put their newly established cooperation to use. Several organisations shared their local perspectives about what MIL represents for them.
The input was used by CROA to produce visual learning material that was disseminated on social media. The infographics covered content like “How to recognize Fake News?” or “MIL – Covid-19 Edition.”
“We are excited to continue the cooperation with the youth organisations in promoting MIL among youth. The advancement of new communication technologies has brought us closer together but also pushed us to face the same challenges,” said Amela Sirovina.
UNESCO is implementing the second phase of the EU-funded project “Building Trust in Media in South East Europe and Turkey” since November 2019. In consideration of the clear decline in civil society trust in media in the region and the recommendations from the European Union on combating disinformation online, the three-year project aims to, among others, enhance MIL skills among youth by introducing MIL components in formal and non-formal education systems, training education staff, building MIL capacities of youth organisations.