Kenyan Coalition Members Receive Media and Information Literacy Training

By Samuel Ouma

The Kenya's National Coalition on Freedom of Expression and Content Moderation members received Media and Information Literacy training for Digital Peace Building.

The workshop,  conducted from August 2-4 in Kisumu, Kenya's lake city, intended to address misinformation and hate speech on the country's digital platforms.

The training, led by the Africa Centre for People, Institutions, and Society, brought together 25 coalition members from Kenya's regulatory authorities, media associations, peace-building organizations, fact-checking organizations, tech groups/networks, and academics.

Topics covered during the training are vital Media and Information Literacy competencies, open-sourced tools for identifying and analysing online hate speech and disinformation and Kenya's policy and regulatory landscape governing the digital space.

Other topics included modern training techniques and methodologies and effective learner engagement strategies.

The workshop was held in Kenya as part of the UNESCO EU-funded initiative Social Media 4 Peace.

The effort aims to increase societies' resistance to potentially dangerous online material, including hate speech inciting violence.

It also safeguards free expression and promotes peace through digital technologies, mainly social media.

Victor Bwire, Director of Media Training and Development at the Media Council of Kenya, emphasized the critical need for mainstreaming media and information literacy abilities in national and county-level operations.

He urged the coalition to coordinate and focus efforts on mainstreaming media and information literacy in education and developing the capacity to promote responsible media use in formal and informal contexts.

On his part, UNESCO Programme Officer John Okande emphasized the need for coalition players to mainstream and promote associated capabilities in digital peace-building to counter harmful material, particularly online disinformation and hate speech in Kenya.

At the same time, Olive Metet, National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC)’s deputy director of corporate communications, noted that there had been a substantial change in how hate speech and misinformation were disseminated online. To develop measures to meet this new problem, he urged collaboration with the existing coalition.