The Global Alliance for Partnerships on Media and Information Literacy (GAPMIL) is a groundbreaking effort to promote international cooperation to ensure that all citizens have access to media and information literacy competencies.
According to GAPMIL report, the technological advancement followed by the explosion of content creation in the media and especially over the internet, creates a strong need for development of competencies for citizens to purposefully navigate this flood of information.
“The pioneering initiative was launched in 2013 and is now being further developed in to the area of youth, through the establishment of Youth Committee of GAPMIL”, the report read.
“Young people are the primary agents of the digital revolution – their interaction and engagement with media and information is on multiple levels. Most of the youth are quite tech-savvy, and this makes them one of the primary creators and consumers of media and information.
However, often, there is no balance – youth lack critical media and information competencies necessary to wisely and ethically participate in the media and technology mediated world in which they live. And without this knowledge, and understanding of media functioning it not possible to meaningfully participate in a society and realize own civic rights. This is proof that to participate globally and attain global MIL competencies goals, youth must be strategically targeted”,
A major victory was the unanimous at the UNESCO decision to officially recognise the Global MIL Week in its official calendar of events. On 25 November 2019, 193 countries unanimously proclaimed Global MIL Week as official at the 40th Session of the UNESCO General Conference. According to Mr. Moez Chakchouk, Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, UNESCO, “ by marking the official proclamation of Global Media and Information Literacy Week, UNESCO’s message to the world is that media and information literacy is key to empowering all peoples.
The mission of the GAPMIL Youth Committee is to seek to contribute to achievement of this goal. The selected ambassadors will strive to perfect governance, citizenship and freedom of expression; access to information and knowledge for all citizens; development of media, libraries, and education, teaching, and learning – including professional development in their respective countries
The Global Alliance for Partnerships on Media and Information Literacy (GAPMIL), has selected 14 ambassadors from 11 crountries across 5 regions of the world to promote media and information literacy globally.
The selected ambassadors are; Akintunde Babatunde (Nigeria), Bushra Ebadi (Canada), Mohammad Asad (Jordan Amman), Arulselvi A. (India), Nikolao Moulos (Greece) Abdul Mustafazade (Azerbaijan), Muhammed Foboi (Liberia) and Mariami Gangniashvili (Georgia).
Others include; Jerome Roodsam (Haiti), Henry Boniface (Tanzania) Beatrice Bonami (Brazil) and Dhammaratna Jawale (India).
A look at the work of the ambassadors so far, one will see a steady growth in their impact within a short period of time and limited resources. From leading sessions in major conferences around the world and spearheading researches in major global journals to executing projects like the LIFT Liberia, and planning to deliver on the Africa Campus Talks and BetterUse in Haiti, and leading revolutionary conversations in engaging young people around the world on MIL CLICKS.
One will only expect they do better to promote media and information literacy competencies especially among youth in an era of misinformation and disformation.
