UNESCO Windhoek Office - Media and Information Literacy for Youth Civic Engagement

UNESCO Windhoek office is launching Media and Information Literacy (MIL) for Youth Civic Engagement in Namibia in partnership with the National Youth Council (NYC) and Namibia National Commission to UNESCO (NatCom) with financial support from the Japanese government.

The project aims to engage youth-led organisations and youth in general to participate in MIL workshops, webinars and online trainings to navigate the digitalized information ecosystem. Media and information literacy is a lifelong learning tool for youth to assess and verify messages;

• Fed and received on social media platforms and the internet;
• Be aware of content providers’ business model, political, commercial and societal agendas and to interpret and disseminate reliable information by an agency of their own informed choice;
•  Seeking, interacting and sharing information online also implies privacy issues, which is closely associated with transparency of internet companies regarding collection of data and algorithm;
• Education on digital citizenship is thus another vital component of media and information literacy.

Under the project framework, UNESCO Windhoek office, NYC and its partners will organize workshops with youth-led organizations to enhance their MIL capacities and eventually contribute towards recommendation guidelines for the integration of MIL in youth organization’s daily operations. At individual level, online trainings and webinars on UNESCO’s MILCLICKS initiative and MIL-related topics like tackling online hate speech and disinformation are open to every Namibian youth aged 16-35 years old. The development of MILCLICKS micro-learning infographics and videos is anticipated from the participating youth, with the guidance of trainers, to ensure active engagement.

The vision of this project, is to enable youth to make informed decisions, become actively involved in wide-ranging societal affairs and be the change-maker in their professional fields.

For youth organizations wishing to attend the workshop, please fill in the online survey.  Registration closes 30^th June 2021, @ 11:59 pm latest. For youth individuals interested in online trainings and webinars, please fill in theregistration form. Registration closes by 30^th June 20201, @ 11:59 pm as well. Youth participants are encouraged to sign up for MIL MOOC COURSE as complementary learning materials and will receive online certificate once they have completed the course. 

For more information, please contact Ms. Yang Wang ya.wang@unesco.org and Brian Prince bprince@nyc.org.na

Relevant links:

UNESCO MIL

MILCLICKS Twitter, Facebook and Instagram