• Background
While young people across Africa are in involved in media activities and production, there is no formal process that involves teaching and training them on the effect and impact of media and information on their lives as media and information literacy seeks to address. To create the environment for media and information literacy to flourish in Africa, the Youth Media & Communication
Initiative (YMCI), British Council, Nigeria, and the National Film & Video Censors Board (NFVCB), three organisations whose activities focus on empowering children and youth and advancing the benefits of information and communication technologies, came together to organize the 1st Africa Media Literacy Conference in July 2008 in Abuja, Nigeria. The focus of this historic conference was on the importance of media education for children and youth in Africa. The conference explored the roles of young people in a world of rapidly changing communication and information technologies and what they can do to put youth issues on the continental agenda using the media and ICT. The concept of an African Centre for Media and Information Literacy took roots from this conference.
• Why an African Centre on Media & Information Literacy? There is hardly an aspect of our personal, cultural, political, economic, and social lives in Africa that remains untouched by modern communications technology. The need for young people in Africa to take active interest in media and information technology and develop a keen understanding of the impact on their lives makes an initiative like the African Centre for Media & Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) imperative. Media and information literacy is a response to the complex, ever-changing nature of information and communication technology in an increasingly globalised world. The African Centre for Media & Information Literacy is dedicated to a new vision of media and information literacy that will provide Africans with the skills required for effective participation in development activities, using creative media and providing opportunities for their increased positive presence in media and ICT. It seeks to respond to the increasingly sophisticated information and entertainment media that address us on a multi-sensory level. With the support of organizations like UNESCO, UN Alliance of Civilizations and their partners, the African Centre on Media & Information Literacy, working with media and information literacy experts, teachers and researchers can engage students, youth, parents, and civil society, in using a "hands on" approach to teaching media, information, and advocacy skills in an engaging way. Objectives of AFRICMIL
The African Centre For Media & Information Literacy will amongst others:
• be a resource centre for children, youth, teachers, researchers, parents, and media professionals;
• be a clearing house that assists media and information literacy initiatives across Africa;
• support community and youth-based groups to integrate media and information literacy into their advocacy work;
• support on-going country-specific campaigns, including campaign for independence of the media, press freedom, passage of Freedom of Information Bills, etc., and national policies on media and information literacy and development of national youth media programmes with the aim of educating and enlightening children and youth about the role media and information play in national development;
• work with media and information professionals in different countries to promote and protect children's rights by organising training programmes for journalists that report on children to acquaint them with relevant child rights instruments;
• provide materials for media and information literacy enthusiasts as well as free lesson plans to help teachers integrate media and information literacy into the classroom;
• conduct research on media and information literacy;
• hold a bi-annual African Media and Information Literacy conference to showcase the best in youth media production and advance learning and awareness about media and information literacy in Africa;
• publish a monthly journal on media and information literacy in Africa;
• work towards the establishment of media clubs in primary/secondary schools;
• through media and information literacy workshops/seminars, encourage the sharing of "best practices" - knowledge, skills, and activism - among media and information literacy educators.
• develop and distribute training manuals and media and information literacy tools that actively encourage critical thinking and free expression, and inspire civic participation in a democratic society.
• develop a culture of debate and dialogue among young people through a youth dialogue series and young reporters diversity forum. The forum will facilitate connections amongst young people across the continent and develop inter-generational and inter-cultural interaction, and build an effective Pan-African youth alliance that will have legitimacy to engage with political leaders at the highest decision making level and to hold leaders accountable for their promises;
• be an after school resource facility for students so that those children and youth who do not have access to computers and the Internet at home or at school do not feel left out in our increasingly digital world;
• provide training for members of civil society on the benefits of media and information literacy and the impact of ICT as well as train professional journalists on reporting on children and youth to ensure that their voices heard and their rights are respected;
• translate media and information literacy research and theory into practical information, training and educational tools for teachers and youth leaders, parents and caregivers of children;
• partner with teachers’ union across the continent to coordinate an integrated media and information literacy project in schools aimed at making students become more empowered media and information users by not only helping them to make decisions about what to listen or watch, especially when there is no adult supervision but also develop and produce their own media;
• launch an African Media & Information Literacy Coalition to provide a platform to appraise the state of media and information literacy on the continent, and bring together individuals and organisations working on children, youth and media;
• organize media and information literacy awards to reward youth media producers, information advocates, media and information literacy activists, as well as professional journalists reporting on children and youth.
