CIMU SEE is led by the South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM), an umbrella organization gathering leading media development organizations in the region.

As a regional network, CIMU will facilitate the increase of peoples’ participation in shaping of information and media landscape in SEE.

Its focus will be on enabling strong involvement from the public. This includes representatives of NGOs, as well as citizen media and information groups, teachers and educators, librarians, IT specialists, youth and gender activists, and many others.

“This Coalition will facilitate information and media development in the region of South East Europe through strategic interaction with media, libraries and other information providers, governments, self-regulators and public regulators”, said UNESCO’s programme specialist Alton Grizzle. “This will be done through media monitoring, online debates and the formulation of policy recommendations.”.

CIMU will also seek to help articulate public interest in policy and legislative debates on key information and media issues. The Coalition will encourage and assist its members to contribute to debates in their countries.  

Tihomir Loza, SEENPM Director said the desired result was media and information users who are informed, active and demanding, as well as capable of influencing the providers in the countries of the region.

Mr. Loza further explained that the CIMU starts from the premise that the process of European integration in the region represents a uniquely favorable context in which significant strides can be made in fostering active citizenship.  

The Coalition of Information and Media Users in SEE will be coordinated by SEENPM, with its member organizations acting as focal points for the initiative in their own countries. The members are currently soliciting support and membership of other organizations, and formal and informal citizen media and information groups, as well as individuals, to ensure wide reach of the initiative.

CIMU will also create synergies with other activities from the project taking place in the region of SEE, such as UNESCO MIL CLICKS – a global media and information literacy movement on social media by UNESCO and partners. MIL CLICKS is now available in English and Serbian. The Serbian language version is implemented by Media Education Center (MEC).

This activity is also carried out in the framework of the EU-UNESCO funded Project “Building Trust in Media in South East Europe and Turkey”.

If you would like to take part in the CIMU please send an email inquiry to t.ljubic(at)unesco.org and a.grizzle@unesco.org.