Idea

The main focus of this project is the promotion of the processes of reconciliation and intercultural dialogue in the Western Balkans, through networking, mutual learning, collaboration and co-creation of the youth. All the while, the aim is to increase the level of media literacy and capacities of young people for social action (both individually and in collaboration), as well as creating common media content that interprets the most important cultural, social and ecological challenges that societies in the post-conflict countries of the Western Balkans are still facing.

By organizing different media and digital literacy courses, the project will empower the young people ages 16 to 22 from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, through raising the levels of the media and online literacy, as well as their personal and professional development. We believe that by achieving this goal, we are able to encourage the youth to better understand the ways in which social networks and other forms of digital communication channels affect social and political processes by influencing the public opinion; how services based on AI primarily affect our daily decisions and choices, and how to recognize and react on numerous manipulation methods in the digital environment.

Through partnership with the organization Intera from Mostar, we are realizing Youth Media Hub within the joint regional programme “Dialogue for the Future” (DFF), jointly led by UNDP, UNICEF and UNESCO, and funded by UN PBF.

WHY?

Development of media literacy represents one of the main tools in empowering media pluralism and the quality of the media content. Therefore, it is one of the foundations for democratization and development of civil society and social cohesion. This is extremely important in the context of the Western Balkans, where media and everyday politics dominate different and elusive “media landscapes”,  with many tabloids and vast production of fake news. The youth in our region should be “cognitively equipped” to stand up to those challenges, which can directly threaten the desired, positive processes of recognition and building common cultural spaces, raising the level of social cohesion and multicultural dialogue, as well as direct cooperation among the social actors in the countries of our region.

Therefore, we would like to build capacities that will empower the youth in accordance with “anti-rumour” strategy, whose goal is to raise awareness about the importance of resisting prejudices and rumours that disturb and threaten positive interactions and social cohesion, and which are often based on discriminatory attitudes. Devoting attention to this issue in the context of youth is extremely important if we strive to overcome numerous stereotypes and prejudices in order to nurture the mutual cultural space that countries and societies of this region share, but also to build positive, constructive and open societies. 

How?

Having in mind the needs of the “Generation Z”, whose characteristics are early adoption of the digital technologies and communications, as well as numerous challenges the youth of Western Balkans are facing, we realize this project through specific forms of informal education, in order to promote media and information literacy.

Besides the topics relevant to media/tech literacy, we are going to pay attention to the knowledge transfer and skills important for young people and their future in regards to their employability and social and intercultural skills: team culture and teamwork, presentation skills and public speaking, public advocacy, “reading” of images, critical and creative thinking and many others. Having in mind the actual pandemic situation, the participants will have an opportunity to develop direct contacts online through a joint educational program, and not only among each other but also with the carefully selected educators and mentors who will work with them. Innovative format of online youth camps and collaborative work while co-creating new media content, will contribute to better intercultural understanding based on dialogue and meeting with other cultures, which is eventually going to decrease stereotypes that emerge as a result of false information and lack of media literacy.