Strengthening democratic participation and civic resilience through media literacy education, combating disinformation, and the inclusive engagement of young people, women and minorities through transnational and collaborative participatory practices.
Description of the project
FAMA Has been launched against a backdrop of the growing spread of disinformation and online manipulation of information, which undermine the quality of democratic debate and trust in institutions. It addresses the urgent need to strengthen citizens’ media literacy skills and critical thinking, particularly among the most vulnerable groups such as young people, women and minorities, who are often exposed to manipulative content and hate speech. Furthermore, it addresses the lack of adequate educational and training tools for teachers, youth workers and parents, promoting informed, inclusive and active digital citizenship capable of countering disinformation and strengthening European democratic resilience.
Objectives
- To strengthen the media and digital literacy skills of citizens, particularly young people (aged 16–25) in countries with lower levels of media literacy (e.g. Italy, Greece, Portugal), in order to improve their ability to recognise disinformation, manipulative content and online polarisation, and to reduce the North–South and East–West divide in Europe.
- To develop the ability of young people (aged 19–25), youth workers and educators to critically analyse online information and apply practical content verification tools (fact-checking, reverse image search, source analysis), thereby bridging the training gap identified at European level in education systems and non-formal education
- Strengthen democratic resilience and informed citizen participation, promoting a culture of active and informed citizenship capable of countering disinformation in political, social and electoral dynamics, including through participatory and deliberative approaches.
- To combat gendered disinformation and forms of manipulation based on identity, by promoting gender-sensitive and inclusive media literacy (SOGIESC), with a particular focus on women, LGBTQIA+ people and vulnerable groups.
- Engage parents and young influencers (aged 18–26) as key actors in promoting responsible digital behaviour, strengthening their role as multipliers of impact in building safer, more ethical and more reliable information ecosystems.
Activities
- Implementation of a structured programme of hybrid events to raise awareness and provide training on disinformation and media literacy, comprising: 3 seminars, 3 webinars, 4 in-person discussions, 4 online discussions, 4 workshops, 4 citizen panels, 1 Policy Reform Roundtable and 1 Final Conference. The activities will involve young people (aged 16–25), teachers, youth workers, parents and young influencers in the partner countries, using a comparative approach and adapting to national contexts.
- Launch of structured participatory and deliberative processes, inspired by the model of the Conference on the Future of Europe, through the organisation of: 4 citizen panels, 4 workshops and 8 conversation sessions (4 in-person and 4 online). The activities will be dedicated to guided discussion of key issues related to disinformation (fake news, information manipulation, hate speech, gendered disinformation and political polarisation), encouraging the co-creation of proposals by citizens and active involvement in democratic processes.
- Design, development and management of a multilingual digital platform based on Decidim software, to be used as an information hub and participatory space. The platform will enable the collection, analysis and systematisation of contributions from all project activities and from at least 20 events in total, ensuring continuous interaction between participants from different countries. A structured feedback system will also be implemented to transform the ideas gathered into European policy recommendations, to be disseminated via the website and the project’s final outputs.
Results
Resources
- FAMA digital platform: a multilingual online hub offering tools, content and civic engagement modules
- Training modules and educational materials: curricula, toolkits and resources for educators and adult learners
- Webinars and interactive content: online educational courses on disinformation and media literacy
- Digital campaigns and social media content: awareness-raising initiatives led in part by young influencers
- Final report with policy recommendations: proposals from citizen panels and round-table discussions
- Participatory methodologies: replicable models for workshops, forums and co-creation processes
- Newsletter #1
Impact
- Involvement of approximately 2,500 participants
- +20% ability to recognize disinformation
- 75% of young people feel more confident in civic participation
- 60% of educators/parents adopt media literacy tools
- Strengthening of critical thinking and digital skills
- Promotion of inclusion, equality, and resilience to disinformation
Partners
- Coordinator: Università degli Studi di Palermo, Italy
- Centro per lo Sviluppo Creativo Danilo Dolci ETS. Italy
- The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), Greece
- Athens Lifelong Learning Institute, Greece
- ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon, Portugal
- Aproximar (APX), Portugal
