UNESCO MIL Alliance

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Origin and Mission

The UNESCO Media and Information Literacy Alliance is a groundbreaking effort to promote international cooperation to ensure that all citizens have access to media and information competencies. This pioneering initiative was launched during the Global Forum for Partnerships on Media and Information Literacy, which took place from 26 to 28 June 2013, in Abuja, Nigeria, under the theme "Promoting Media and Information Literacy as a Means to Cultural Diversity".

The UNESCO Media and Information Literacy Alliance is a focused and permanent mechanism aiming at:

articulating concrete partnerships to drive MIL development and impact globally;
enabling the MIL community to speak as one voice on certain critical matters, particularly as it relates to policies;
further deepening the strategy for MIL to be treated as a composite concept by providing a common platform for MIL related networks and associations globally.

Media and Information Literacy, a priority

Drawing upon over 40 years of UNESCO's experience in MIL, it has become absolutely essentiel to establish more enduring partnerships that are necessary to amplify the impact of MIL. MIL empowers citizens, including children and youth, with competencies related to media, information, ICT and other aspects of literacy which are needed for 21st century.

To this end, the UNESCO Media and Information Literacy Alliance is a joint initiative of UNESCO and other key stakeholders such as the United Nation Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), UNICEF, Open Society Foundation, IREX, European Commission and other UN agencies and international development partners who agree to come on board in future.

UNESCO, as part of its ongoing work, has a lead role in the Alliance, in cooperation with the organizations mentioned above and in consultation with a central/core group of partners-made up of regional and international organizations that are actively involved in MIL actions and have agreed to be part of the alliance.

Establishment of the Alliance

The UNESCO Media and Information Literacy Alliance was establishd through a call for interest which was distributed to stakeholders groups globally in 2013. After the launch of the call, close to 500 organizations responded and agreed to be associated with the Alliance. This was followed by a three-month online debate and culminated with the gathering of partners and further debates in Nigeria from 26 to 28 June 2013 during the Global Forum for Parterships on MIL, incorporating the International Conference on MIL and Intercultural Dialogue.

Speakers and participants discussed, amended and adopted a framework and plan of action for the Alliance. An eleven-person steering committee comprising two people from each region was established. It includes six women (one youth representative) and five men.

>> Click to view the details of the GAPMIL Framework and Action Plan.

This process was necessary to enhance co-ownership and galvanize consensus on what shape the Alliance should take.

Objectives of the Alliance

The UNESCO Media and Information Literacy Alliance seeks to globally reposition MIL around the core objectives of:

Articulating key strategic partnerships to drive MIL development globally and its application to eight key development areas:

Governance, citizenship and freedom of expression;
Access to information and knowledge for all citizens;
Development of media, libraries, Internet and other information providers;
Education, teaching, and learning - including professional development; Women, children and youth, disabled and other marginalized groups;
Linguistic and cultural diversity as well as intercultural and interfaith dialogue;
Women, children and youth, persons with disabilities and other marginalized social groups;
Health and wellness;
Business, industry, employment and sustainable economic development;
Agriculture, farming, wildlife protection, forestry and natural resources conservation as well as other areas.

Enabling the MIL community to speak and address, with a unified voice, certain critical matters, including the need for policies; and
Further deepening the strategy for MIL to be treated as a composite concept by providing a common platform for MIL related networks and associations globally that will ensure convergence of regional and international initiative and amplification of global impact.