COVID-19 is the first pandemic in history where technology and social media played a critical role and is widely being used to keep people safe and informed. Sri Lanka has over 6.4million active social media users, and the rapid exchange of information and perspectives about the virus was unfolding an ‘infodemic’ - an overabundance of information. False information was spreading faster than ever before – making it difficult for the public to access trusted and timely information while also raising questions about the quality, impact and credibility of the information we consume.

Attempts to disseminate false information poses multiple challenges, especially during a crisis. Mis-and disinformation undermines the public health response, leads to poor observance of public health measures, puts people’s lives at risk and amplifies hate speech and stigmatization which in turn hinders a countries’ ability to control the pandemic. Fighting the ‘infodemic’ requires being literate and critical about the information that surrounds us.

Engage to Disengage – a learning platform for youth

To equip young people with the ability to navigate through the current media landscape, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Sri Lanka launched an initiative titled ‘Engage to Disengage’ - an awareness building and training programme on ‘Critical Media and Information Literacy’ for young people in Sri Lanka. The programme developed as part of the HackaDev Academy of Learning and Skills is a partnership with the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding.

Since its inception in August 2020, Engage to Disengage has trained over 350 young people representing all 25 Districts in Sri Lanka whilst engaging young journalists, teachers, university and school students and civil society actors.

“Engage to Disengage empowers Sri Lankan youth to act with greater civic responsibility when interacting on social media platforms to promote global citizenship and peace. This is an opportune intervention at a time when young people are increasingly exposed to hate speech, fake news and violent extremism online. Engaging young people from across Sri Lanka through a virtual platform and providing them with this learning opportunity has been a truly great experience” – says Ralani Weerasinghe, Learning and Skills Programme Associate at UNDP in Sri Lanka who is part of the core team.

For the team at UNDP, conducting these trainings have not been an easy journey, as Oshan Gunathilake, National UN Youth Volunteer in Learning and Innovations, reiterates, “In the wake of COVID-19, our planned activities drastically changed but it also brought about new opportunities. We managed to innovate, design and implement new programmes identifying the needs of the current situation. Critical thinking and innovation played a key role here and it proved to be very effective in designing this programme”.  To ensure a sustainable model, advocates of the training programme are encouraged to carry out their own independent projects to promote their learnings among their communities.

Critical Media and Information Literacy: Towards the 2030 Agenda

Critical Media and Information Literacy transforms people’s interaction with information and learning environments both online and offline. “As we face challenges in assessing the relevance and reliability of information, Critical Media and Information Literacy is important now more than ever. Having this knowledge equips young people with competencies needed to seek,  evaluate,  use  and  create  information  effectively  in order to enjoy the full benefits of the  rights  to  freedom  of  expression  and  the  right  to  information” - says Soyeon Kim, International UN Youth Volunteer, Youth & Innovations Assistant at UNDP in Sri Lanka.

How do we distinguish between what’s real and what’s not? Skills progression in Critical Media and Information Literacy enables young people to identify and critically analyze different types of media content in order to understand the messages they are sending. It gives them the tools and analytical skills to pause and verify before forwarding information. This is not only the key to fighting the infodemic but also crucial to building peaceful and inclusive societies. As mentioned by one of the participants, “This programme was extremely useful. If everyone becomes responsible media users, from families to communities and then towards the nation, we can assure to build a peaceful society”.

In the words of António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, this decade of action, let’s do our part in promoting “facts and science, hope and solidarity over despair and division”.

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