MILagers
MILagers project aims to engage, connect and empower young people, by enhancing their media and information literacy (MIL) competencies through cross-sectorial and innovative open educational tools. The project goal is to improve youth work in the field of media literacy, supporting youth organizations
The project goal is to improve youth work in the field of media literacy, supporting youth organizations to:
- Support young people to develop MIL competencies in a holistic way, through an app based game with real working tasks provided by stakeholders, such as media companies, creative agencies, universities/schools, public agencies, youth organizations, etc.;
strengthen young people’s sense of initiative, helping them to put into practice their ideas for solving social problems, through design thinking facilitation techniques adapted to the youth sector; - Support young people to express their opinions through powerful storytelling techniques and influence policy-makers, decision makers, CSOs and other relevant stakeholders.
- The project will also enhance the youth organizations’ communication and media capacity, and their capacity for designing, redesigning and co-designing user-centered services for young people, through innovative and NGO-suited design thinking and storytelling tools.
In EU-28, the media literacy field is dominated by NGOs, providing resources (leaflets, videos, curriculum, websites, etc.) for youth, and developing competencies like critical thinking and media use (Council of Europe, Mapping of media literacy practices and actions in EU-28, 2016). Most of the projects treat young people only as consumers/receivers, who only need to be trained to “protect” themselves from propaganda, fake news, hate speech, etc. Some of the partner organizations have also previously worked in similar projects. But, they also had projects in which young people were involved as media content creators, as Faktuell – a magazine written and published by young people from Norway with the support of Norsensus. Based on this experience, the partners concluded that they need to take the media literacy to the “next level”, level based on the following needs:
The need of supporting young people to develop MIL competencies, in a holistic way, perceiving them as consumers that engage with media & information providers, and most importantly as content creators, expressing opinions, and participating in the public arena;
The need to uncover and use the potential of youth organizations and youth workers, outside of media literacy field, to support young people to develop MIL competencies and actively participate in the public arena;
The need to create cross-sectorial partnerships to support young people to develop MIL competencies by exposing them to real life situations and work tasks given by diverse stakeholders;
The need to support young people to put their social initiatives into practice, through facilitation processes that address their concrete ideas of civic, social, political participation.
The main target groups of the project are the youth workers (at least 144) and youth organizations, and young people interested to develop MIL competencies with the following purposes, as described in UNESCO MIL framework (2013): problem solving (for social initiatives), intentional learning (for personal and professional development), and for actively participating in democratic societies.
We will address these needs, through innovative educational tools (UNESCO eight MIL competencies framework based):
A MIL app based game, built on real life situations and real work tasks, for young people;
design thinking journeys for youth workers to facilitate young people’s social initiatives from idea to practice;
A storytelling handbook for young activists, supporting youth workers to teach young people to build powerful messages and stories in the public arena, by using the latest tools and technologies;
A design thinking and storytelling training toolkit for youth organizations to enhance their communication and media capacity and their capacity for designing/re-designing services for young people, allowing for youth co-creation and ownership.
The transnational context brings added value on various levels: a) the symptoms of lacking MIL competencies take effect at global level – fake news, propaganda, extremism, intolerance, etc. have no borders. Thus, solutions provided should also be activated at transnational level, and multiplied and exploited in international networks and partnerships; b) launching the innovative products in a transnational context generates the right stir for starting an European trend for youth organizations to become more active in the field of media literacy and develop cross-sectorial partnerships for such initiatives; c) it ensures an international perspective that motivates both youth organizations, and relevant stakeholders connected to the media literacy field to get inspired and together support European young people in being more active in the public arena.
MILagers project brings valuable results for young people, partner organizations, and other youth workers and youth organizations, as well as for other relevant stakeholders interested in the field of media and information literacy competencies for young people. MILagers will support young people to develop MIL competencies in a holistic way by using the eight-competencies UNESCO MIL framework that will constitute the base of all the intellectual outputs developed within the project. Also, young people will strengthen their sense of initiative and also they will be learn to better express their opinions for influencing policy-makers, decision makers, CSOs and other relevant stakeholders. Youth workers from partner organizations, but also from other youth organizations will develop their competencies and improve their work for supporting young people to develop MIL skills, and for enhancing their sense of initiative and for expressing their opinions in the public arena. The new knowledge and skills they acquire in these two fields enhance their communication and media capacity, but also their potential for designing, redesigning and co-design services for young people.