GLOBAL FORUM FOR PARTNERSHIPS ON MIL, INCORPORATING THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MIL AND INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE On 26-28 June 2013 Nicon Luxury Hotel, Abuja, Nigeria “Promoting Media and Information Literacy as a Means to Cultural Diversity” Introduction: The Grunwald Declaration of 1982, the Alexandria Proclamation of 2005, more recently the Fez and Moscow Declarations, the Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Recommendations of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA), the UNESCO Declaration on Cultural Diversity, and UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Promotion and Use of Multilingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace (2003) form the fulcrum for the forthcoming Global Forum for Partnerships (GFPMIL), which incorporates an international conference on MIL and intercultural dialogue focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa and MENA. An important element in the implementation of the Fez and Moscow Declarations is the treatment of media literacy and information literacy as a composite whole that now encapsulates media and information literacy – necessary to achieve greater take-up and impact of MIL on education, personal, cultural, social, political and economic development. For its part, the Declaration on Cultural Diversity has given impetus to the celebration of MIL as catalytic in intercultural dialogue, particularly by focusing on how citizens, including journalism educators, media professionals, information specialists and other civic actors, can enlist MIL to promote communication practices that are sensitive to cultural and linguistic diversity and intercultural dialogue. The development of “human capital” for the knowledge societies, including an open, integrated and intercultural education combined with MIL competencies and given clear context to ICT skills, is of crucial importance. Therefore, ICT training (digital literacy/ICT skills) should not be limited to technical competence but should also include awareness of other competencies included in MIL. Global Forum for Partnerships on MIL, incorporating the International Conference on MIL and Intercultural Dialogue: Drawing upon over 40 years of UNESCO’s experience in MIL, it has become absolutely essential to establish more enduring partnerships that are necessary to amplify the impact of MIL. To this end, UNESCO will launch the Global Forum for Partnership on MIL (GFPMIL) on 26-28 June 2013, in Nigeria. As a joint initiative of UNESCO, the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and other key stakeholders, the GFPMIL will be a permanent mechanism and seeks to globally reposition MIL around the core objectives of: Articulating key strategic partnerships to drive MIL development and impact globally focusing on seven development areas: 1) Governance and citizenship, 2) education, teaching and learning; 3) linguistic and diversity intercultural dialogue; 4) women, disabled and other disadvantaged; 5) health and wellness; 6) business, industry, employment and economic development; 7) agriculture, farming, wildlife protection, forestry and natural resources conservation. Enabling the MIL community to speak as one voice on certain critical matters, particularly as it relates to policies; and Further deepening the strategy for MIL to be treated as a composite concept by providing a common platform for MIL related networks and associations globally that will ensure convergence of fragmented regional and international initiative and amplification of global impact. Several activities have already been launched to solidify the notion of MIL, as listed below: The production of the Media and Information Literacy Curriculum for Teachers. The articulation of a Global Framework on MIL Indicators. The setting up of the MIL and Intercultural Dialogue University Network. The establishment of an International Clearinghouse on MIL in cooperation with the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. The delivery on International Online Course on MIL and Intercultural Dialogue The provision of Guidelines for Broadcasters on Promoting User-Generated Content and MIL. The development of Guidelines for Preparing National MIL Policies and Strategies (This resource will be launched during the conference). It is partly to respond to the tripartite aim above that the GFPMIL has incorporated the International MIL and Intercultural Dialogue Conference. With Africa as a Global Priority for UNESCO, the International MIL and Intercultural Dialogue Conference will focus on Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa and will be the first global partnership project in this domain and set the way forward for future partnerships. To this end, during the International MIL and Intercultural Dialogue conference, UNESCO will seek to galvanise consensus on what shape the GFPMIL should take. Four specific issues will be tabled for discussion. These are: 1. What functions can the Forum be expected to perform? 2. What structure should it take to effectively perform such functions? 3. Where such a structure should be housed? 4. What sustainability arrangements will better serve such a structure? 5. What are two priority activities that the Forum should undertake? 6. What should be the Forum’s programme of activities for the next two years? In order to enhance co-ownership, these issues will be flagged in an online debate, to be moderated by UNESCO. The key conclusions of that online discussion will serve as a starting-point for the deliberations during the Conference proper. Conference Theme: Taking into account the above issues, the Conference theme will be “Promoting Media and Information Literacy as a Means to Cultural Diversity”. Broad topics for consideration will include: Contextualizing Media & Information Literacy in Africa’s and the Arab States’ Transformation and Sustainable Development. Conceptualising Cultural Diversity as Media & Information Literacy. Intercultural Dialogue, Journalism Education and Media & Information Literacy. Linguistic diversity and Media and Information Literacy Media and Information in formal and non-formal education in Africa and Arab States: Who, What, Where and How. Media and Information Literacy & Freedoms: Essentials in an emerging Democracy and for good governance. Library and Information Science, Teacher Training Education and Media and Information Literacy. Media & Information Literacy for Knowledge Societies. Youth and Children’s Rights in a Changing Information Age: The Role of Media & Information Literacy. The gender dimension of all the broad topics above is underscored in the detailed agenda for this event which is being finalized. This initiative is a partnership between UNESCO, the Government of Saudi Arabia, the Swedish International Development Agency, the Government of Nigeria, the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, and other key stakeholders around the world. Please visit our website for further updates on this meeting or contact Alton Grizzle, [email protected] or Fackson Banda, [email protected] or Irmgarda Kasinskaite, [email protected].
Posted on: Wed, 05 Jun 2013 07:56:20 +0000
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