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The manual was created through the Open Media Centre and aims to provide guidance to youth MIL trainers. In attendance were representatives of various youth-led groups, media establishments, and the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

During the opening ceremony, Programme Officer Omar Bah gave a brief overview of the MIL project with UNESCO and highlighted that the training manual is just the first stop in a long line of activities including a training of trainers and the organization of step-down trainings in the different regions of The Gambia to more youth. He thanked UNESCO for their continued support to expand media and information literacy while discouraging misinformation and disinformation.

NYC Executive Director Alagie Jarju welcomed participants and expressed his gratitude to the Open Media Centre for the work they have done so far. He urged participants to critically analyse the document put forward and share their comments and suggestions. He posited that is the only way to have a functional document that is fit for purpose. He then declared the sessions open for deliberation and thanked UNESCO for their support.

Kebba Jeffang of the Open Media Centre gave a brief overview of what media and information literacy is. He introduced participants to the training manual and why the topics covered in it are relevant, especially to youth in The Gambia. He then divided the participants into groups to commence the deliberation on the various modules.

Following the deliberations, groups took turns to present their comments and recommendations. Among these was the need to elaborate on the layout of Gambia’s media landscape for better understanding, the use of contextualized examples within the manual to allow for relativity with the target audience, and to give introductory notes on less popular and emerging elements of media in The Gambia.

UNESCO’s Ngenarr Yassin Jeng closed the session by thanking participants and buttressing how this manual is a stepping stone to further media literacy in The Gambia. She congratulated the consultant and NYC for a brilliant job in supporting youth media literacy. She further expressed UNESCO’s enthusiasm for the project and partnership while looking forward to future outputs and collaborations that will support SDGs 16 and 17.