Background

Global Forum for Partnerships on MIL, incorporating the Pan-African 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 held the Global Forum for Partnership on MIL (GFPMIL) from 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 is 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) 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.

Several activities have already been launched by UNESCO 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 Courses on MIL and Intercultural Dialogue.
The preparation of a Global Framework of MIL Indicators.
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 was launched during the Abuja conference).

The Global Alliance for Partnerships on Media & Information Literacy (GAPMIL)

GAPMIL was launched during the Abuja conference to give greater impetus to fostering media and information literate citizenries in the governance and development agenda, GAPMIL was established through a call for interest which was distributed to stakeholders groups globally. Close to 300 organizations responded and agreed to be associated with the GAPMIL.

This was followed by a three‐month online debate and culminated with the gathering of partners and further debates in Nigeria from 26 to 28 June, 2014, during the Global Forum for Partnerships on MIL, incorporating the International Conference on MIL and Intercultural Dialogue.

Cooperation with Member States

As part of its action plan, GAPMIL will:

Assist Member States to articulate national MIL policies and strategies – integrating these with existing national ICTs, information, media and communication, and education policies, strategies, and regulatory system.

Encourage and support Member States to develop relevance in local projects and government partnerships, particularly in countries and regions where MIL is a novel or developing concept. This will include encouraging Ministries of Education to develop a standard MIL curriculum to be incorporated into education systems at the elementary/primary, secondary and tertiary levels. Furthermore, national governments will be supported to monitor and evaluate MIL initiatives through the use of the UNESCO Global MIL Assessment Framework developed by UNESCO for informed decision making at policy, teacher training and development levels.

Encourage Member States to welcome representation from the GAPMIL at relevant important national, regional, and international policymaker meetings such as the Global Meeting of Ministers of Education and other relevant institutions organized by UNESCO as well as other regional structures, processes and economic communities.

Assist and support Member States to set and monitor MIL goals and targets in respect to MIL providing MIL training for all citizens at the country and regional levels.