The survey targets teachers in about 150 schools in rural and urban Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland. It is being conducted by the Research ICT Africa (a network of researchers in 20 African countries), in cooperation with the Ministries of Education of concerned countries. The purpose of this research is to enable decision making in UNESCO and among other stakeholders, including media and information professionals, educators, citizens’ media groups, policy and decision makers, about the need for actions to promote MIL at all levels of society.

In 2009 UNESCO organized the Regional Training-of-Trainers Workshop and the Consultation on the Draft Model MIL Curriculum for Teachers in Pretoria, South Africa. This initial meeting provided important feedback on the relevance of the content, of specific modules and of the Curriculum in its whole to teacher education - from the perspective of teacher trainers, curriculum developers and media and information specialists. Following this exercise, carrying out a survey on MIL levels of teachers proved to be a necessary next step.

UNESCO is mindful of the potential limitations of this survey. Therefore, the Organization is now working with its partners to prepare a Global Framework of MIL Indicators, which will assist Member States in undertaking more comprehensive analysis of MIL at the national level. Similar surveys are being implemented in the Caribbean and in selected South-Asian countries.

This initiative lies within UNESCO’s objective to increase MIL for fostering informed decision making. Its broader goal is to strengthen free, independent and pluralistic media, and universal access to information and knowledge for good governance and sustainable development.