The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) organized a regional conference on media and information literacy in Southeast Europe and Turkey in Sarajevo.
The event brought together more than 40 speakers from the region, including representatives of state authorities and international organizations, civil society organizations, especially youth ones, teachers, librarians, young journalists and experts.
The conference officially marked the end of the project “Building trust in the media in Southeast Europe and Turkey – phase 2” (2019-23), which is being implemented by UNESCO with partners in the region, with the financial support of the European Union (DG BLIZU).
The project aimed to strengthen freedom of expression, especially free, independent and pluralistic media, while at the same time empowering citizens, especially young people in the region, to think critically and search wisely on the Internet – thanks to the piloting of MFA skills in formal and informal education – about information which they receive through the media, especially social media.
“With their unique and holistic approach, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UNESCO and its partners have contributed to the achievement of very important results in recent years, to the benefit of thousands of young people, pupils and students, but also teachers and, of course, national and local authorities,” said the head of the UNESCO Office in his opening remarks in Sarajevo Siniša Šešum.
Head of the Section for European Integration, Political and Economic Affairs (EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina), Aurélie Valtat, emphasized that media and information literacy skills are essential for democratic societies and that it is crucial for people to know how to evaluate sources.
The project in Bosnia and Herzegovina was supported by the Sarajevo Canton to adopt the Strategy for the Integration of MFA into formal education, for the first time in the country, and contributed to the training of more than 300 teachers and librarians with MFA skills from 36 primary and secondary schools in the Republic of Srpska and Sarajevo- of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton.
During the conference, seven panel discussions were held, while on the first day, Borislav Vukojević, consultant for the MFA UNESCO Antenna Office Sarajevo, presented the main results achieved at the MFA in formal and informal education within the project “Building trust in the media in Southeast Europe and Turkey – phase 2”. The conference was also an opportunity to show one of the six stories about the MFA produced by the national public televisions in Albania and BiH (BHTV and RTHS), with the support of the Eurovision News Exchange for Southeast Europe (ERNO).
The event brought to the stage representatives of youth organizations and a group of young and talented journalists SEE Youth Newsroom, a network of young journalists and students from the region, which was founded by the Center for the Development of Youth Activism (CROA) to give young journalists the opportunity to work together, report on issues related to for freedom of expression and improve their journalistic skills.
“Media and information literacy is necessary every day, especially in turbulent times. UNESCO remains more engaged than ever in fostering MFA in formal and informal education in the region,” Siniša Šešum concluded in his closing remarks, Fena reports.
