Initial situation

Especially in the eastern part of the Danube Region, there is a worrying tendency towards political stagnation and a lack of interest in political events, especially on the part of the younger population. Moreover, political developments in recent years in some Danube countries have led to a decline in democratic values. In order to strengthen active citizenship and sustainable democratic developments, a high level of media literacy is essential nowadays. On the one hand, media literate citizens are able to reflect on social reality in a self-determined way, and on the other hand, they are able to develop resilience against negative internet phenomena such as hate speech and disinformation.

Target groups and their benefits

The MELIA project is aimed at young people and educational professionals. They are strengthened in their media skills and encouraged to be active and democratic citizens.

Project goal

The MELIA project aims to establish a transnational observatory for media literacy in South-Eastern and Eastern Europe in order to improve transnational democratic governance structures in the long term by involving various relevant stakeholders and, in this way, to curb the influence of negative media phenomena such as hate speech and disinformation. To this end, tools for sensitising and empowering young people and educational professionals are being developed.

Role of SoWiBeFo

SoWiBeFo e.V. is significantly involved in the implementation of a mapping on the state of media literacy in the Danube countries, the creation of training materials on the topic of media literacy and the development of the transnational further education network for media literacy. In addition, SoWiBeFo e.V. will hold a workshop on media literacy in a local lower secondary school at the end of 2022.