Building resilient communities through media education 

Donor: Open Society Fund Prague

Overall Objective: Building resilient communities through media education

Partners: Elpida, o.p.s.

The project is being supported by the Open Society Fund Prague from the Active Citizens Fund. The programme promotes citizens’ active participation in the public life and decision making and builds capacities of civil society organizations. The Active Citizens Fund is financed from the EEA and Norway Grants

Objectives:

  1. Delivering a high-quality educational program to older adults and senior citizens across the country; and
  2. Improving the capacity of local actors (senior clubs, libraries, NGOs, local institutions) to provide high-quality educational and fact-checking services to local citizens in the field of media literacy.

More at the project website.

Activities:

  • Methodology development;
  • events;
  • capacity building for local actors; and
  • design of online resources

Project updates:

New Ways to Engage Seniors in Media Literacy            

Between 20-22 October, together with our partner Elpida, we organized a three-day BarCamp where we held numerous panels and workshops for a group of 40 participants on the topic of senior media literacy. The event was held at a retreat outside of Prague, in collaboration with many local organizers, librarians, Czech local municipalities, and the seniors themselves. (In case the term BarCamp is new to you, these events are at least partially self-organized with participants much in control of the format, the processes, and the outcomes).  

The panels were led by specialists in the fields of sociology, security, psychology, and andragogy (adult education). The participants stayed engaged throughout, and we were happily surprised by the flow of energy and creativity that greatly contributed to the success of the event.

Since the Czech Republic has no official strategy, concept, or plan in place regarding media education for older adults, we decided to lead the way. Using participative design – which involves target audiences and beneficiaries in the shaping of program goals, strategies, and methodologies – we started to outline a strategy for the upcoming 10 years that would be both interdisciplinary and community-based. The BarCamp led to the creation of new working groups to explore three main areas:  

– How to build and support local capacity-building; 
– How to make media education cross-sectional; and 
– How to make the process inclusive and participatory. 

Participant feedback: “Great atmosphere of trust, partnership, and collaboration. A lot of information and inspiration.“

“I really appreciate that the organizers invited all bigger and smaller actors, both experienced ones and beginners, and the seniors themselves… It is a joy to join such an initiative.”

“For cars, there are gas stations. For electric cars, there are charging stations… and for us, there is this BarCamp. Let’s go!” 

One senior participant shared these thoughts: “The flood of disinformation materials that we fact-check really does sharpen your brain and mind, and I also hope that it prevents dementia. Solving crossword puzzles and riddles is nothing compared to a task when you need to respond to a request: ´I received this via email, is it true or not?” 

For more information about TOL’s other current projects, please click here.