Launch of Youth Media Center to Enhance Digital Skills and Combat Misinformation in the South

UNESCO and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) concluded the "Empowering Young Men and Women in Southern Lebanon" project by launching the Youth Media Center and the Digital Citizen Platform, providing youth with new spaces and tools for content creation and sharing, enhancing their digital skills, and enabling effective participation in the information space.

The closing ceremony held at the Imam Sadr Institutions in Tyre was attended by project participants, local partners, municipalities, and representatives from UNESCO and UNIFIL, celebrating the achievements of a two-year initiative focused on media and information literacy, fact-checking, combating disinformation and hate speech, cybersecurity, and responsible digital citizenship.

Head of Mission UNIFIL Major General Diodato Abagnara said: "UNIFIL is proud of your achievements. The future of southern Lebanon is in your hands. Together, we are building a more peaceful and stable future."

For his part, UNESCO Program Officer George Awad emphasized that "the conclusion of the project does not mean the end of the participants' journey, but rather the beginning of their role. The end of this project is not the end of your journey, but the start of your role. You have acquired the knowledge, skills, and tools that enable you to make more conscious choices, verify information before sharing it, handle harmful content responsibly, and interact with others respectfully."

He added: "At UNESCO, we believe that empowering youth with media and information literacy skills is an investment in the future of their communities, helping them confront disinformation, participate responsibly, and contribute to building more aware, inclusive, and resilient societies."

The Project

A joint statement by UNESCO and UNIFIL noted that "over two years, the project reached more than 900 young men and women through activities implemented in more than 115 towns and villages in the south. Its various stages included university students, young content creators, journalists, representatives of non-governmental organizations, and members of local communities, who gained practical skills to help them evaluate information, verify content, identify disinformation and misinformation, enhance cybersecurity awareness, and interact responsibly online."

It pointed out that "these skills did not stop at training boundaries, as participants received support to become multipliers and trainers, transferring what they learned to others and contributing to expanding the scope of media and information literacy within their communities. This gained particular importance during periods of crisis, when disinformation and unreliable content spread rapidly, potentially affecting how communities understand events and respond to them."

The statement clarified that "the Youth Media Center, equipped at the Imam Sadr Institutions in Tyre, comes as a continuation of this path, providing youth with a dedicated space to transform the skills they acquired into actual content and productions through content creation, storytelling, and digital production. In parallel, the Digital Citizen Platform provides an electronic space for sharing content, highlighting youth voices, and continuing learning and interaction around fact-checking, media and information literacy, and digital citizenship. Together, these two platforms provide a sustainable foundation allowing youth to produce, verify, and share information, and continue benefiting from the skills and networks they developed during the project's implementation period, beyond the project's two-year duration."

It stressed that "the project reflects the joint commitment between UNESCO and UNIFIL to empower youth, enhance media and information literacy, and support communities in dealing with an increasingly complex information environment with greater awareness, responsibility, and resilience."