UNESCO Global Alliance for Partnerships on Media and Information Literacy (GAPMIL) Call for Youth Ambassadors 2019
Deadline: July 22, 2019
The Global Alliance for Partnerships on Media and Information Literacy (GAPMIL) Youth Committee is calling for Youth Ambassadors as part of its strategies to operationalize the Youth Committee globally. The Youth Ambassadors represent the GAPMIL Youth Committee; they are champions of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) from all regions of the world with a mandate to advance the global MIL agenda.
Youth Ambassadors act in the interest of the GAPMIL Youth Committee and coordinate activities in their regions as well at the national and international level. The GAPMIL Youth Ambassadors are established according to UNESCO’s regional structure (Africa, Arab States, Asia Pacific, Europe and North America, Latin America and the Caribbean).
The Goal
The goal of Youth ambassador’s work is to contribute to the empowerment of youth by promoting the need for acquiring skills, knowledge and develop attitudes that will improve their competencies in MIL. This set of competencies is necessary for young people to be able to participate in decision-making processes that will contribute to sustainable development in their respective regions.
The GAPMIL Youth Ambassadors will pursue this goal by collaborating and cooperating with operational partners and stakeholders in each Region to promote awareness of Media and Information Literacy among participants especially youth and contribute to training of youth. This may include cooperation with the variety of organizations and entities engaged in MIL, as well as governments, regulatory and self-regulatory bodies, NGOs, academic institutions, research and private sector entities and others.
They also give support to the GAPMIL Youth Committee, the GAPMIL ISC and Regional Chapters (Chapters and Sub-chapters to create awareness of advocacy actions to all citizens about Media and Information Literacy competencies).
Functions / Terms of Reference
- Serve as global champions for Media and Information Literacy
- Act as liaison between stakeholders and GAPMIL Youth Committee
- Motivate various stakeholders to engage in empowering citizens (especially youth and children) with competencies related to MIL (knowledge, skills and attitude).
- With the promotion of the GAPMIL Youth Committee, create a Network of Youth Ambassadors for MIL, advocate for MIL Globally and connect both online and offline with other Youth Ambassadors to collaborate, exchange and broaden the work of GAPMIL.
- Promote GAPMIL Youth Committee’s actions to various partners, such as international organizations, regional and country chapters of GAPMIL, governments, private sector, NGOs, media etc. to set goals and targets for youth MIL development and implementation and monitoring of MIL activities.
- Attend meetings and speak on behalf of GAPMIL Youth Committee (in cooperation and coordination with GAPMIL Youth Committee)
- Promote Media and Information Literacy on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) and engage in ongoing UNESCO initiatives and projects that are MIL related on social networks, especially MIL CLICKS.
- Attend official meetings organized by UNESCO and partners when there is a need.*
*Note: GAPMIL Youth Ambassadors represent the GAPMIL Youth Committee and DO NOT represent UNESCO neither are they UNESCO Ambassadors and are not allowed to use UNESCO’s logo
Eligibility
- Applicants must be between the ages of 16 – 30.
- Applicants must be able to communicate in English language.
- Applicants must be referred by at least two persons or organizations in order to demonstrate competency and commitment to lead an international process.
- In selection of members, the Selection Committee comprised of GAPMIL Youth Committee members, will balance cultural and geographical representation globally, and will look for diversity in member’s background in terms of NGOs, print/broadcasting unions/associations and journalists’ associations, libraries, film and game organizations.
- Membership of Youth Ambassadors must be gender-balanced, having 50 % of female and 50% male members.
- Youth Ambassadors will be selected for a fixed period of time which will be a duration of service of two years. This could be renewed based on commitment and performance. Evaluation will be done by project leaders.
- Selection Committee will select 12 Youth Ambassadors.
- The Youth Ambassadors Network shall be established based on volunteers. The call for Youth Ambassadors has to be open, transparent, and on a first-come-first-served basis, keeping in mind the criteria described above.
Criteria
- Demonstrate a strong desire to help promote information, media and technology competencies and create innovative ways of engaging young people in realisation of MIL initiatives.
- Be passionate about empowering of citizens with knowledge and skills to be able to critically interact with information and media.
- Must possess talent in diverse fields in media, information and library sciences, technology, arts, sciences, literature, entertainment, sport or fields of public life to be able to contribute to the achievements of GAPMIL goals.
- Must be conversant with the goals and activities of GAPMIL and possess willingness to connect, collaborate, exchange and broaden the work of GAPMIL.
- Demonstrate a sense of responsibility and leadership qualities to initiate, coordinate and implement activities related to development of media and information literacy.
- Demonstrate the commitment and proven potential to reach out to citizens especially youth and children. Ambassadors must be willing to actively advocate for MIL enhancement on local and global level and to take action.
- Possess the personality and dignity required to advocate for MIL globally, demonstrate personal influence in their communities in relation to MIL and skills for inclusive and innovative leadership. Ambassadors should also demonstrate awareness of MIL development and related issues in their communities/regions and globally.
- Must be affiliated to an organization or youth organization like NGOs, print/broadcasting unions/ associations and journalists’ associations, public and private institutions or similar others.
- Experience in project implementation at regional and/or international level, and in working in a multicultural environment.
- Have read the MIL CLICKS PACT here https://en.unesco.org/MILCLICKS and signed to commit to it here https://en.unesco.org/feedback/commitment-be-mil-clicker
Application