91Â鶹¹ú²ú¾«Æ·×ÔÅÄ

Recognizing this capacity, 91Â鶹¹ú²ú¾«Æ·×ÔÅÄ provided support to the Open Media Centre to launch a two-day training on media and information literacy on October 20th and 21st for youth in The Gambia. The training focused on empowering youth with the much-needed tools to think critically and analyse their activities and engagement online. It was held at Kotu Senior Secondary School in the West Coast Region of The Gambia and featured student representatives from all seven regions of the country. Also in attendance was the communications representative of the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education who seized the opportunity to monitor the training so as to come up with ways to include MIL into youth education.

During the opening, UNESCO’s Ngenarr Yassin Jeng highlighted that the training falls within the priority mandates of the organization in achieving SDG 16 and within the strategic objectives of the project to enhance infrastructures for peace in line with Agenda 2030. She encouraged the students to use their time at the training wisely and employ the skills learned to help broker peace amongst their peers by combatting hate speech, misinformation and disinformation. 

Kebba Jeffang of the Open Media Centre thanked UNESCO for their continued support for media and information literacy activities. He expressed enthusiasm that the students will make the best use of their time and, with support from UNESCO and OMC, will serve as trainers on media and information literacy in their respective communities. This will ensure that youth are safe and able to effectively engage with information especially online, he added.

Mr. Dumbuya, director of the Press Club at Kotu thanked UNESCO and OMC for conducting the training. He mentioned that youth are increasingly getting engaged both online and in the media. As such, the training is timely and will go a long way in impacting youth.

Day one of the training focused on privacy and data protection in the digital space. This session was led by Aji Oley Samba, a Gambia lawyer and data protection advocate. Aji took participants through the definitions of privacy and data protection. She also buttressed on how youth engage in online spaces pointing out what actions can potentially lead to a breach of their privacy or data. She counselled participants on how to better use the internet, protect their data, and not engage in activities that may be risky to them and other people online. Participants had the opportunity to make contributions and ask questions. While discussing what they had learned, many highlighted they were not aware that some of their online activities could be potentially harmful to them or their peers. They pledged to be more intentional about the information they put online and share.

Day two of the training featured two sessions on cyber security and digital tools to detect and debunk fake information and photo manipulation. Ismaila Jawara, a cybersecurity specialist provided the training on cyber crimes and how young people can protect themselves online. He provided examples of cyber-related crimes and how they are set up for people to include their private details which can later be used against them. He also exposed the students to online risk management tools and strategies to enable them to avoid threats such as scams, hacking, phishing, and cyberbullying. Mariama Danso, a fact-checker engaged participants on how to detect, verify, and counter disinformation and hate speech. She further showed the participants how to use tools to verify photos and videos and ensure that they do not fall victim to media element manipulation.

Participants expressed gratitude to the organizers and vowed to be ambassadors of the program mentioning they are excited to share the tools learned with their peers when they return to their regions.