Teaching media literacy amid war
Many parents worry what their children are up to online. Throw in war, and youngsters face a whole armada ranging from propaganda to fake news and violence, all while trying to find their own voices online.
Media and information literacy (MIL) can serve as a protective shield by helping young people develop a critical approach toward their media consumption.
But how can Ukrainian children and teens be equipped with these critical skills? For the MIL Youth Initiative, the answer is in gamification - making learning fun.
A project with impact
Over Easter, the initiative came together for a two-day closing event in Lviv, Ukraine.
In an interactive space, kids and teens learned about magic tricks like cognitive traps on social media. They tried to break free from misinformation loops in an escape room, played games on spotting AI‑generated content, and solved cyber security quests in a Minecraft game.
MIL Youth Initiative closing event in Lviv, Ukraine
Over the last 27 months, the initiative has reached more than 5,000 Ukrainian kids and teens in cooperation with Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne.
- The initiative's MIL board games and the Escape Room "Unlock the truth" have travelled through Ukraine, Germany, Namibia, Colombia and Bolivia and will be presented at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy.
- The TikTok series "Trust me" on cyberbullying will be the first vertical series in Ukraine.
- The TikTok channel "Hto Pro Sho," by Ukrainian broadcaster Suspilne's Kids' and Teens' Content group, grew to almost 14,000 followers, with more than 700,000 views for some episodes.
The project "Strengthening Independent Media for a strong democratic Ukraine” is EU-funded and supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
