The 2021 Global Youth Hackathon led by UNESCO and South Africa, in cooperation with the European Commission and IBM-Z is gathering youth and youth organizations globally to engage in the creation of innovative media and information literacy learning in meaningful ways.
Organized in the framework of the UNESCO annual Global Media and Information Literacy Week, a UN international week, the 2021 hackathon registered 85 teams from 45 countries all around the world, with Africa being the region represented with most participants (22 teams). Generally, this year’s call for applications was very successful as more than 450 people registered to participate in the virtual hackathon, which seeks to tackle various challenges, such as promoting peace building narratives, and to address hate speech through media and information literacy.
On 8 October 2021, during 3 hours, hackathon organizers and international mentors prepared the participants for the coming hacking process introducing them to the hackathon purpose, challenges and methodology. UNESCO’s Media and Information Literacy Programme Specialist, Alton Grizzle, moderated the event and encouraged the teams, explaining the overall UNESCO Media and Information Literacy framework.
Giannina Raffo, Digital Campaigns Director of CEDICE Libertad, introduced the project Inflaciómetro, as an example on how to break the wall of disinformation and use Media and Information Literacy to empower citizens to understand inflation in Venezuela.
Paul Bagu, CEO & founder Youth Impact (Uganda) one of last year’s winner of the UNESCO Hackathon, stretched out the unique opportunity to network during this process and gave insights in his own path and project, emphasizing the importance of feedback during the hacking process.
Hania Bitar, Director, Palestinian Youth Association for Leadership and Rights Activation, approached the topic of promoting peacebuilding narratives from a storytelling perspective, explaining how it is essential to integrate Media and Information Literacy in all kind of settings, formal, non-formal, and informal.
For years now, with digitalization we all became creators of media content. Critical thinking is essential, and the youth is blessed that they can use their minds and be more pro-active, having different media and social media channels available.
For years now, with digitalization we all became creators of media content. Critical thinking is essential, and the youth is blessed that they can use their minds and be more pro-active, having different media and social media channels available.
Finally, Ms Veronica Yarnykh, Co-leader of UNESCO Media and Information Literacy Cities Speak, talked about the opportunities of Media and Information Literacy in cities spaces through the example of project “mos.ru” in Moscow, Russian Federation.
During the second part of the mentoring webinar, participants were given practical information on hacking techniques, design thinking, innovation and pitching. The mentoring session was conducted by Ms Melissa Sassi, Chief Penguin at IBM-Z, and Ms Samara Baba, Lead Developer Advocate of the IBM-Z Global Student Hub. Questions on how to handle uncertainty matters, how to create a business model canvas, and the importance to know your customers were only few of all discussed topics to prepare and support the participating teams in the hacking process.
The teams have until the 18th October (00:00) to submit their solutions in form of a 3-minute video. The presented solutions can be either a game, an application or website, a radio programme or podcast, or a creative community-based intervention. Within the theme “Hack Media and Information Literacy for Better Futures” the participating teams face one out of three challenges and design creative solutions. The challenges are:
- Media and Information Literate Youth to Promote Peacebuilding Narratives and Address Hate Speech ((in partnership with the EUfunded project Social Media 4 Peace)
- Media and Information Literacy within Youth Organizations: Innovative Ideas
- Media and Information Literacy in City Spaces
The submitted pitches will be evaluated by an independent judging panel selected by UNESCO, and the main criteria will be consistency, excellence, feasibility and sustainability, and potential impact.
The winning teams and the outcome of the Hackathon will be presented during the Global Media and Information Literacy Week Youth Agenda Forum on 27 October 2021.
The Global MIL Week 2021 is hosted by South Africa from 24 – 31 October, 2021 under the theme: Media and Information Literacy for the Public Good.