Media Literacy in Digital Spaces: Parallel to the War

On November 6-12, Media Literacy Week will be held in  Armenia. The Media Initiatives Center has been organizing this special week jointly with the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport for the last six years.

“We at USAID are strong believers in the fundamental importance of media and information literacy. Citizens who are able to access, critically evaluate, and use information form the very backbone of prosperous and democratic societies,” said USAID/Armenia Mission Director John Allelo in his opening remarks during the launch of the week’s program.

“We prioritize media literacy. It is a very important tool for democratic countries and enables citizens to resist disinformation campaigns and manipulative content, which are particularly distributed through media. Thus, the promotion of media literacy has an essential function in forming an informed civil society by maintaining democratic values, stimulating cultural perceptions, and ensuring the social and economic well-being of various groups of the population,” Jan Plesinger, Head of Politics, Press and Information Section of the Delegation of the European Union to Armenia mentioned in his speech.

As stated by H.E. Mr․ Viktor Richter, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany, “This is a successful joint project in the very important field of media literacy, youth and empowerment. The active participation of young people in democratic processes is essential for Germany. I would like to mention that we are actively engaged in the process of supporting Armenia in this challenging situation.”

Media Literacy Week is the continuation of the “Media and Information Literacy in Digital Spaces” global week. This year the title of Media Literacy Week in Armenia is “Media Literacy in Digital Spaces: Parallel to the War.” During the week, sessions and games are organized at schools, in universities, libraries and other educational institutions, meetings and discussions are held with experts and journalists, debates and lectures are conducted in universities, and trainings are organized for teachers by local and foreign experts both on and offline.

This year’s Media Literacy Week is held within the framework of the EU co-funded “Youth in Action: Youth Empowerment and Leadership Development in Armenia” and the USAID-funded Media Program in Armenia.

The events, educational content and posts of the week will be distributed in social media with the hashtags #iammedialiterate, and #medialiteracyweek2023.

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Promotion and education of media literacy is one of the main objectives of the Media Initiatives Center (MIC). Media Literacy has been a consistent part of the organization’s activities for 26 years.. The MIC helped children and young people to better understand media by producing films and TV programs. Since 2011, the MIC has adopted a more systemized approach towards media literacy: training sessions in schools, developing handbooks and educational resources, organizing training of trainers, integrating media literacy into secondary education, cooperating with educational institutions and public media for promoting media literacy messages, knowledge and skills.

In 2017,   were awarded the Grand Prize of the GAPMIL Alliance, established under the auspices of UNESCO for significant achievements in the field of media literacy in Armenia and the region.

MIC’s media literacy resources – games, handbooks and lessons are available on Media.am.

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The project “Youth in Action: Youth Empowerment and Leadership Development in Armenia” is a co-funded initiative by the European Union aimed at empowering and educating young people and youth organizations to actively participate in civic and public affairs in Armenia. The project consortium, led by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in collaboration with World Vision Armenia , the MIC, and the Gyumri “Youth Initiative Centre”, is responsible for implementing the project.  

Media Literacy Week is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in the scope of the Media Program in Armenia. The project is implemented by Internews in partnership with the MIC, Yerevan Press Club and Zinc Network.