UNESCO has joined forces with the members of the UNESCO-led Global Alliance for Partnership on Media and Information Literacy (GAPMIL) to launch the MIL Alliance Response to COVID-19.
Another wave of disinformation has flooded the world following the COVID-19 pandemic. People are responding to two pandemics; the coronavirus crisis and what UNESCO calls the ‘disinfodemic.’
The pollution of the world’s information ecosystem is real. When an ecosystem is polluted, we try depolluting it to save lives. Equally urgent is how we can prevent further pollution to break out of an unsustainable cycle.
One defense against the disinfodemic is to ensure that all people acquire MIL competencies. People who are media and information literate, critically evaluate information with which they engage; they think and verify before using or sharing information.
Get Involved in the UNESCO MIL Alliance Response to COVID-19
The UNESCO-MIL Alliance Response to COVID-19 includes:
- A series of webinars covering various issues connected to MIL and the COVID-19 disinfodemic. See the full list and schedule here;
- Making MIL resources, including open education resources, available to the public. See all available resources here;
- Crowdsourcing MIL-related COVID-19 responses. Send an email with the action that you want to crowdsource here, gapmil@lists.unesco.org. Organizations or individuals must first join GAPMIL here to access and use the email list for crowdsourcing;
- Joining the UNESCO MIL CLICKS initiative to learn more about MIL on social media. Become a MIL peer educator by signing and sharing the MIL CLICKers Pact, now available in 5 languages, https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/mil_clicks_pact_english.pdf.
- Becoming a youth changemaker by joining the GAPMIL Youth Ambassadors’ COVID-19 Information Campaign.
Disinformation spreads through purposefully organized and sometimes commercial methods. Disinformation also goes viral organically, people unintentionally share information without verifying. UNESCO has mobilized an international community of MIL experts, practitioners, peer educators, and organizations to collectively promote MIL learning online.
Together, UNESCO and GAPMIL are building the resilience of people around the world to defend themselves against the disinfodemic beyond COVID-19 crisis. UNESCO is calling on MIL stakeholders around the world to get involved.
GAPMIL
GAPMIL (The MIL Alliance) is a groundbreaking effort to promote international cooperation to ensure that all citizens have access to media and information competencies. UNESCO and partners all over the world spearhead GAPMIL. Organizations from over one hundred countries have agreed to join forces and stand together for change. This pioneering initiative was launched by UNESCO during the Global Forum for Partnerships on Media and Information Literacy (MIL), which took place from 26 to 28 June 2013. For more information about how you can get involved in UNESCO’s MIL actions, please contact Alton Grizzle, a.grizzle@unesco.org.