Fake news and disinformation are very common nowadays. Young people are the most vulnerable and targeted groups who consume and produce the information online. It causes misleading and raises intolerance and discrimination among them towards various groups including minorities, refugees and etc. YMDRAB as an organisation with the mission to bring peace and tolerance has addressed those issues by implementing a project named “Think Critically Act Logically” in partnership with youth organisations from Greece, Romania, Portugal, Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia.
The project aims at contributing to prevention intolerance and discrimination caused by fake news and disinformation in social media and beyond via empowering youth workers. The project objectives are:
- to explore and promote tools (digital and offline), activities and methodologies to combat the fake news and disinformation;
- to develop participants competencies in media literacy and critical thinking to analyze and evaluate the impact of media images and messages on youth work and society;
- to promote intercultural diversity competencies and understanding among the participants and at their communities;
- to develop and disseminate educational toolbox for youth workers for combating fake news at their communities/countries via follow-ups;
- to explore possibilities for future projects and cooperation on this topic within of the Erasmus+.
To meet these objectives an international training course for youth workers took place from 15th to 24th June 2022 in Kranevo, Bulgaria, bringing together 36 participants from 7 countries. A short video of the training can be found HERE.
As a result of the project a practical TOOLBOX FOR COMBATING FAKE NEWS was developed which will be spread both within the participating organizations and youth workers and beyond on local, national and international levels. We expect that the project will positively impact young people’s attitude towards consuming and producing online and offline information, subsequently, the level of peace and tolerance will rise.
The project is co-funded by Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.
