The Media Council of Kenya (MCK) has lauded the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) for developing a digital Media Information Literacy (MIL) Policy to promote digital democracy and civic participation.
MCK Director for Media Training and Development Mr Victor Bwire revealed that the Council has partnered with UNESCO to review the policy. He said that implementation of the policy will equip citizens with essential skills to responsibly navigate the digital landscape.
“The digital MIL policy has come at an opportune time when we are witnessing cases of social media misuse in the spread of fake news and promotion of cyberbullying. These cases are likely to go down once we implement the policy by senstising the public on responsible digital use”, said Mr Bwire during the Training of Trainers Workshop on Media and Information Literacy for Digital Peace Building in Kisumu.
He emphasised the role of regulators in the implementation of the policy, noting that this will play a key role in educating the masses.
“Cognisant that regulators cannot police everyone in the media space, there is need for a policy which will educate the masses on responsible use of digital media", he said.
He further mentioned that the Council has begun initiatives around the MIL training targeting various key stakeholders including teachers, religious leaders and students.
He urged the participants to make use of the skills acquired from the training to enhance digital safety.
UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa National Programme Officer John Okande shared that so far, Three Hundred and Eighty Five (385) media professionals have been trained on the MIL policy since last year.
“Under the Social Media 4 Peace Project supported by funding from the European Union, last year, we managed to train 385 media professionals specifically on the MIL policy”, he said.
The training of trainers workshop organised by UNESCO in collaboration with the EU-funded Social Media 4 Peace Project and the Africa Centre for People, Institutions and Society (ACEPIS), aims to empower trainers who will play a pivotal role in spreading media and information literacy across Kenya.