REPORT: Media & Information Literacy in the EU Youth Programmes – Empowering Youth Participation

0:00 foreign 0:02 [Music] 0:10 [Music] 0:15 hello and welcome to presentation of the 0:18 recent report on media and information 0:20 literacy activities Trends and needs 0:24 within the Erasmus Plus and European 0:26 solidarity core youth programs in 2021 0:31 when working on these projects we were 0:33 curious to understand how do the youth 0:36 Field Youth field stakeholders approach 0:39 media information literacy what the 0:42 magic areas of Mill present an interest 0:44 to them and which ones do not 0:47 so we identified and explored the gaps 0:50 in Mill within the EU youth programs 0:54 in the process we discovered 18 good 0:57 practices as well as several uh key 1:01 areas that we would like to cover in 1:04 this presentation 1:06 uh based on the findings and Analysis we 1:09 developed recommendations for youth 1:11 field stakeholders and salt API on how 1:14 to support 1:15 and encourage male skills 1:18 we looked at the links between Mill and 1:22 youth participation areas in order to 1:26 find the important connections between 1:29 the two 1:32 also we hope that our findings will 1:36 encourage you to more evidence-based 1:39 action 1:40 the report was published by Salto 1:43 participation and information 1:45 Resource Center in Tallinn this year and 1:48 it was published by using the funds of 1:51 the Erasmus Plus program of the European 1:54 Union 1:55 special thanks should be given to the 1:59 Erasmus Plus and European solidarity 2:01 core National agencies from Estonia the 2:04 Netherlands Spain Austria and Belgium 2:07 Flanders for supporting the creation of 2:09 this report 2:11 now here let's see the team behind the 2:14 project a contracted researcher Miguel 2:17 Lopez who was responsible for Gathering 2:20 and mapping the existing youth projects 2:22 available in the Erasmus Plus and 2:24 European solidarity core databases from 2:28 the last year Malika here Mom media 2:31 information literacy coordinator at 2:33 Salter Pi who led our projects and 2:37 myself being responsible for Gathering 2:40 the primary research data and analyzing 2:42 the findings 2:47 um 2:48 uh the three of us are very proud to be 2:51 sharing our findings with you today and 2:54 we hope that it will be useful for for 2:57 you in your media information literacy 2:59 study visit 3:01 let's Dive In 3:03 first I would like to show you our 3:06 approaches the data has been used has 3:09 been collected in three main activities 3:12 first was the mapping the mapping task 3:15 including included the research for meal 3:19 related projects in the Erasmus Plus and 3:21 European solidarity core databases then 3:25 those 3:27 researched projects were clustered 3:30 around the defined Mill areas and then 3:34 we did a qualitative analysis of a 3:36 representative sample of the 50 60 3:39 projects 3:41 then in stage 2 we gathered insights 3:45 from the national agencies and field 3:47 stakeholders through an online survey 3:50 and finally in stage 3 we hosted Focus 3:54 interviews with a smaller Focus Group 3:58 and here is what we found 4:01 first you will see a huge table in front 4:05 of you right now this tables also is in 4:08 our full-length report that you can 4:10 access later on but here I just want to 4:13 highlight a few things for you so it 4:16 will be easy to read 4:17 First Media information literacy in the 4:21 Erasmus Plus program is primarily 4:23 represented through the two key actions 4:26 youth participation 4:28 activities and cooperation Partnerships 4:31 in youth 4:32 in those two key actions every third 4:35 project is focused on Mill and it's a 4:38 great great indicator 4:40 next I want to talk about developing 4:43 Digital Youth Work 4:45 it appears to be the top priority for 4:48 the key action 2 projects 4:51 and is also very popular among the 4:53 projects in mobility of Youth workers 4:56 next uh key finding was that European 5:00 solidarity core projects tend to focus 5:03 more on digital skills and competences 5:05 and so do the Erasmus Plus projects 5:08 under mobility of young people 5:11 it is also the area that received the 5:14 most number of all Mill Focus projects 5:17 across the both EU programs 5:21 now let's talk about Mill and youth 5:24 participation 5:25 I said that we've evaluated 60 youth 5:29 projects across both programs 5:31 in those projects we saw that Mill Focus 5:34 was prominent in 50 percent of Youth 5:38 participation projects and vice versa we 5:41 think that this very significant 5:43 relationship might have been accentuated 5:46 by the pandemic however this trend seems 5:49 to be a very clear one and that it will 5:52 continue in the future 5:55 also critical thinking appears to be the 5:58 transversal horizontal competence that 6:01 is relevant and often present in both 6:03 kinds of projects 6:05 other observations that we made 6:08 throughout the research were that Mill 6:10 is a precondition for Effective and 6:13 inclusive youth participation it is 6:16 necessary to develop milk competencies 6:19 among the young people but particularly 6:24 with those with fewer opportunities 6:25 those from minority groups those living 6:29 in rural areas or those that are victims 6:32 of discrimination 6:34 the projects in our evaluation shown us 6:38 that this can be successfully done 6:40 through campaigning for social inclusion 6:43 for example or play placing the young 6:46 people in employment 6:50 um especially employment uh and and 6:53 youth work here is important where the 6:57 young people can get their hands on the 6:59 creative tools Like Music Arts video and 7:04 podcasts or social media platforms these 7:07 tools create new ways of expression for 7:11 those young people and they are ideal 7:13 for groups of young people who are not 7:16 just socially excluded but are 7:18 stigmatized and stereotyped online 7:23 uh now speaking about online 7:26 um it is necessary to mention 7:30 e-participation or digital participation 7:32 whichever way you want 7:34 and this includes online debates 7:37 consultations decision making processes 7:40 campaigns and virtual Democratic spaces 7:43 launching activities like this in your 7:47 project mean automatically engaging 7:50 young young audience in using and 7:53 developing meal competencies 7:56 now I have prepared some special go-to 8:01 advice for you at the Mill study visit 8:06 here the first one would be about 8:08 European solidarity core so for the 8:11 volunteering and solidarity projects 8:13 here uh we unfortunately 8:16 lacked the data on the volunteering 8:18 project but from what we can say by 8:21 looking only on the solidarity project 8:24 is that there were too few Mill related 8:27 cases among them and the program itself 8:31 has a great potential to have more mail 8:33 projects 8:35 right now only fifth projects in the 8:39 solidarity among the solidarity projects 8:42 is focused on Mill 8:44 and among them we couldn't find any that 8:48 would place a focus on the digital 8:50 content Technologies and practices 8:52 aspect of mail so keep that in mind when 8:55 you'll be thinking what to do for your 8:57 project 8:59 the next one 9:01 would be 9:03 my comment on Erasmus Plus key action 2 9:06 projects 9:08 and here the major caps in Mill are 9:11 present in digital safety ICT and media 9:15 literacy and tackling information the 9:17 magic areas 9:19 according to the data we received 9:22 there is a complete absence of projects 9:25 in digital safety and ICT in the 9:29 small-scale Partnerships in Youth for 9:31 example 9:33 here I would also like to mention that 9:36 from the data we we got through the 9:39 interviews it was voice that is the key 9:43 action 2 project should Target 9:45 specialist organizations 9:47 We should strive to include specific 9:49 Niche organizations that deal 9:52 specifically with male related issues we 9:56 learned that usually ka2 applicants are 10:00 the generic Youth ngos and youth centers 10:03 who may benefit from collaboration with 10:05 those 10:07 experienced and competent Partners who 10:10 already have the necessary education 10:12 resources to offer 10:14 the same comment goes 10:17 to regard to formal education 10:20 institutions as well as teachers 10:23 there might not always be aware of the 10:27 existence of the specific organizations 10:29 and resources on Mill 10:33 now uh here another very important point 10:36 for you to consider is Media landscape 10:38 and no matter which program you wish to 10:40 apply to Media landscape is a thematic 10:44 area that you can really focus on but 10:48 what do we mean really by media 10:51 landscape maybe not all of you are aware 10:53 of the term well let's take young people 10:57 for them the internet is primarily a 11:00 social space a place to meet up 11:03 communicate and get in touch with the 11:05 like-minded people they form online 11:08 communities use popular apps play games 11:12 and form more communities around those 11:14 games and so on it's a whole ecosystem 11:18 their habits and tools 11:21 um are very different from what their 11:22 parents have 11:24 and let's not forget that in all of this 11:28 the young people are not the only player 11:31 there are also media Outlets political 11:34 promoters advertisers government 11:37 regulators and so on all of them are 11:41 competing with each other for the 11:43 consumer's attention this all is the 11:47 spicy mix of media Landscapes magic area 11:50 and if you would like to learn more 11:52 about this you should check out the 11:54 Salto participation resource pool they 11:57 have a whole page on media landscape 12:01 now let's move to the last point on this 12:03 slide which is promoting and cooperation 12:06 cooperation uh to tackle radicalization 12:10 here I think we can all agree that 12:13 counteraction is needed to prevent and 12:16 minimize radicalization hate speech and 12:20 exclusion of anyone from democratic 12:22 participation however according to the 12:26 data we've collected from the conducted 12:28 focus group interviews many ngos who 12:32 want to help for example Ukrainian youth 12:36 often just simply face an obstacle of 12:39 not having enough understanding and 12:42 concrete ideas of what would work in the 12:46 long term 12:47 so guidance and second thought is 12:50 required for questions such as what 12:52 should be in the focus for the next two 12:55 years media landscape information search 12:59 Source verification understanding 13:01 disinformation campaigns and so on 13:05 with this in mind for example the 13:09 European youth information and 13:11 counseling agency Erica that you might 13:14 know 13:15 started a project where the young 13:19 refugees tried to find out what 13:22 information needs a refugees try and 13:26 have and what is the what would be the 13:29 best ways to provide 13:31 to provide to those needs the findings 13:35 were shared with the information 13:37 providers through the webinars where 13:40 they can meet and collaborate with the 13:41 young people 13:43 and it was pretty successful 13:45 other examples mentioned in 13:50 mentioned to us included 13:53 um for example Finland raising the 13:55 amount of available news translated into 13:58 Russian in order to ensure that the 14:01 Russian speak speakers in Finland 14:02 receive information other than what is 14:05 being streamed to them by the Russian 14:08 government 14:09 uh another one would be also Finland 14:11 running vaccination campaigns with its 14:14 Somali diaspora in order to tackle 14:17 misinformation about coveted vaccines 14:20 another example would be Ireland 14:22 mentioning youth projects that Target 14:25 migrant Youth and Young people from The 14:28 Travelers minority 14:31 so cases like this can really open up 14:35 some ideas to you and if you would want 14:39 more inspiration you should definitely 14:40 again check the full length of this 14:42 research which includes the 18 grade 14:44 practices 14:46 now let's go into Universal advice that 14:48 I have to all of you 14:51 first one would be focus on young 14:53 people's profile and needs when it comes 14:56 to defining what makes a quality project 14:58 the survey data shows complete agreement 15:01 on putting the needs of the audience 15:03 first 15:04 any group of people a youth worker is 15:07 engaging with has its own specific 15:09 qualities and demands for example young 15:13 people in Germany today go through basic 15:15 cyber security education as part of 15:18 their basic school program hence it's 15:21 been suggested that certain aspects of 15:24 the safer internet thematic area of Mill 15:26 may not be so relevant for such an age 15:29 group 15:30 therefore you know age experience 15:33 interests school system all of that 15:36 those are aspects any youth worker 15:39 should take into account before planning 15:40 any activities 15:42 here I also can give you some questions 15:45 to think about so who is my audience do 15:49 I understand their needs what is their 15:52 age what is your background what are the 15:54 daily challenges what do they know about 15:56 media and technology and what do they 15:59 use themselves 16:00 and most importantly sometimes to ask 16:03 what do they see as cool to use and what 16:06 is old school 16:08 now the next point on this slide would 16:11 be experiment with various audiences 16:14 young young mothers for example has been 16:18 the target audience of one of the 16:20 projects in our review 16:22 the positive outcome of such a project 16:24 was its impactfulness and both on the 16:28 lives of the mothers and on the 16:30 broadened awareness of the young people 16:32 involved in the project 16:35 also explore Technologies and design new 16:39 experiences 16:40 think of the mighty tools we use every 16:43 day without realizing their potential a 16:46 smartphone for example or a tablet even 16:49 a basic one has access to a myriad of 16:52 applications and can make young creators 16:54 very excited 16:56 remember that Mill skills are trained 16:58 both through engaging with the content 17:00 and creating it 17:02 ask around and and involve knowledgeable 17:06 people from other professions technology 17:09 enthusiasts and meal trainers to come 17:12 and show the new tools or let the young 17:15 people take the lead they they really 17:17 can know better 17:19 sometimes 17:22 also it's important uh that when 17:26 whatever your core area is you try to 17:29 find out how it translates into middle 17:32 perspective for example as this current 17:35 report has shown us 17:37 um there is a close Mutual connection 17:39 between youth participation and mail 17:43 so use the powerful resources of the 17:46 mill section for example on the 17:47 participation resource pool together 17:49 with your young people to delve deeper 17:52 into those middle aspects that apply to 17:54 your specific needs be it for example 17:57 hate speech or media content creation 18:01 also critical thinking where can we go 18:04 without without that critical thinking 18:08 um as a concept and a skill gets a great 18:10 deal of attention in youth projects and 18:13 overall we saw that it's a 18:15 cross-horizontal competence in both 18:18 however to some people it may still be 18:22 quite just a flashy word to wake to 18:25 thoroughly understand 18:27 so what can we do well we can for 18:31 example introduce and practice the skill 18:33 with subject matter experts 18:36 or another way would be to place our 18:39 audience into cross-border projects as 18:43 it seems from our interviews findings 18:46 that critical thinking is better 18:48 understood in international contexts 18:52 where which facilitates young people's 18:56 learning and use of critical thinking 19:00 also perhaps just look around and adopt 19:04 the tried and tested practices 19:07 say you listen to my presentation 19:10 careful carefully today and now want to 19:13 do a solidarity project on Mill 19:16 here is where experience from for 19:18 example you Finnish colleagues may be 19:20 very helpful to you based on what the 19:23 Finnish National agency Representatives 19:25 told us the solidarity projects in 19:28 Finland successfully integrate Mill 19:30 especially if they are related to 19:34 representation and inclusion 19:37 so don't be shy take this report and 19:40 look through the best practices that 19:42 might give you quite some inspiration 19:45 and then why not to reach out to the 19:48 project teams behind them 19:54 well in general if we set ourselves on a 19:58 mission to advance mail in the long term 20:01 we have to work in silos and help each 20:04 other create better guidelines and 20:06 project ideas 20:08 Salto Pi in this regard is seen and will 20:11 serve you as a Nexus for encouraging 20:14 youth work 20:15 and the links between Mills stakeholders 20:19 and youth work as well as mainstreaming 20:22 meal through versatile cross-celvic 20:25 campaigns 20:27 you have a quite unique opportunity 20:29 right now to meet Salter Representatives 20:31 right where you are so do approach them 20:34 and propose any ideas for any 20:38 cooperation ideas that you have in mind 20:41 sailing along this course will 20:44 eventually lead us to the day when Mill 20:48 will become an EU youth priority and 20:51 will be closely woven into other 20:53 priority topics prompting more emphasis 20:57 and motivation from relevant 20:58 stakeholders to plan and engage in 21:01 long-term male activities 21:05 with this in mind I'd like to conclude 21:07 my presentation for today 21:09 please take some time to read the full 21:13 length report where you will find the 21:16 summary of the 18 youth projects 21:19 um which we call the good practices 21:23 and if you would like to refresh your 21:25 memory of the key points please read 21:27 through the two-pager of the with the 21:31 report summary that you now have in your 21:33 hands probably and get access to the 21:36 full length report 21:38 foreign 21:40 [Music] 21:48 [Music]