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In the face of COVID-19, people around the world are confronted with significant challenges affecting their everyday lives, such as closed schools, economic vulnerabilities and high levels of uncertainty. In these times, inequalities related to access to information and communication technologies become determinant factors for citizen’s wellbeing.

In this context, At its 31st Meeting, organized online on 20 May 2020, the unanimously approved two key projects, further strengthening UNESCO’s targeted response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through the project entitled “Media and Information Literacy in the World Affected by COVID-19: How to Teach the Teachers”, IFAP will partner with the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education, located in Moscow, to train trainers from teacher training institutions in nine countries on digital media and information literacy (MIL) education.

The project “Caribbean Artificial Intelligence Initiative” will benefit Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) by providing capacity building webinars on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the context of the COVID-19 crisis. Implemented in partnership with the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica, the project aims to build the capacity of participants to cope with the COVID-19 crisis. The webinars will especially consider the Caribbean context and discuss how to harness the potential of AI to accelerate sustainable development in Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

The IFAP Bureau Chair, Dorothy Gordon, emphasized the continued relevance of the in the many ongoing crises caused by the global pandemic. She emphasized that IFAP’s mandate is of increasing relevance in the current situation, highlighting the importance of pursuing the Programme's goal to build inclusive knowledge societies, particularly by “helping address global challenges that threaten the future of humanity”.  

In his remarks, the Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, Moez Chakchouk, expressed his conviction that IFAP, as a unique platform for intergovernmental policy discussion, enables UNESCO to accompany Member States towards the common objective of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.  “We strongly believe in the role and work of this Intergovernmental Programme, whose themes and priorities are more relevant today than ever”, he said.  

The meeting also served as opportunity for the IFAP Chair to present the leadership of the six IFAP Working Groups who will support the achievement of IFAP’s overarching goals. The Chair, Dorothy Gordon (Ghana), will lead the Group on Information Literacy; Mano Verabathran (Malaysia) will lead the work on Information for Development; Belgium will lead on Information Ethics; Cordel Green (Jamaica) will lead the work on Information Accessibility; and Evgeny Kuzmin (Russian Federation) on Multilingualism. The Bureau agreed that Lazlo Karvalics of Hungary, an IFAP Council Member, would continue to lead the Working Group on Information Preservation.

The Information for All Programme (IFAP) was established in 2001 to provide a platform for international cooperation in the area of access to information and knowledge for the participation of all in knowledge societies. IFAP is a unique intergovernmental programme of UNESCO that aims to ensure that all people have access to information that they can use to improve their lives. The IFAP Bureau is composed of six Member States appointed by the Governing Council. It meets twice a year to evaluate, select and approve projects as well as to hold thematic debates on issues of importance to the programme.