Where: Medellin, Colombia
When: September 18, 19 

CREDIBLE's mission is to transform the way young people engage with information, building their resilience to information manipulation, supporting them in fact-based decision-making, and fostering responsible information consumption habits in Latin America and the Caribbean. Currently, CREDIBLE has activities in Peru, Colombia, Peru and the Dominican Republic.

On September 18 and 19, we will bring together in Medellín, Colombia, nearly 100 representatives of civil society organizations, public and private sector, cooperation agencies, academia, young participants of the CREDIBLE project, organizations and representatives of the implementing partners of the program. In this learning and collaboration meeting, we will discuss practical, proven, and valuable ideas to enrich the dialogue around youth empowerment actions that promote their resilience in the face of today's information clutter. The CREDIBLE regional event will be an in-person event with streaming.

Why is it important? 

Increasingly, young Latin Americans need useful tools and skills to interact effectively with comprehensive and quality information. This is crucial to make key decisions in their daily lives and exercise their leadership role in the sector in which they work and as responsible digital citizens. This event, led by youth and adults involved and interested in the topic, offers the opportunity to address the challenges that affect the integrity of the information they interact with and reflect on activities implemented to promote effective strategies to build resilience to these challenges. 

Who will participate? 

Young leaders of the CREDIBLE network, organizations of the CREDIBLE implementing consortium and representatives of civil society, academia, media, cooperation agencies, public and private sector with experience and interest in working with young people and those interested in the issue related to resilience to misleading and unreliable information.

What do we want to achieve with this meeting? 

1. For all participants: A space for reflection and learning about contributions to practical and innovative solutions to the problem.
2. For young participants and people working with and for young people: new ideas on how to build individual and community resilience to challenges that undermine the integrity and quality of information.

Key Issues

The proposal is to go through two days of joint work where the focus is on reflecting on practical, proven and relevant contributions for the youth of the region. 

On the first day, we will start with workshops and practical panels about how the phenomenon of information clutter impacts each of us and what tools/actions we can use/develop to mitigate this impact. 

On the second day of the meeting, and based on examples and lessons learned, we will highlight collaborative actions between different sectors: How are organizations producing content that addresses the phenomenon? How is this issue included in the educational system?, How is the issue included in community spaces? How does the private sector deal with this issue?

How can they join? 

• Providing content, experiences or experts on issues of manipulated and misleading information or work with young people.
• Bringing your expertise to a specific project or research that can make a difference and that you want to share.
• Exchanging experiences with other young people, institutions and organizations, to expand the scope of your intervention or project in the region.

Methodology

The event will feature activities focused on participation and leadership, such as discussion panels, dialogues with experts, round tables, spaces for the presentation of initiatives advanced by the young people of the project, exchange of methodologies, participatory workshops, among other activities. In addition, each participant will be invited to make individual and collective reflections on their own path towards resilience in the face of informational disorder.

Some sessions of interest will be streamed for people from all over the region to participate virtually.

Schedule:

Day 1: Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Panels 

• Young People's Perspective on Information Manipulation and Ideas for Their Role in Social Change - Responsible Digital Citizenship
• Navigating Emotions in a Sea of Misleading Information
• Youth at the Forefront - Strengthening Leadership in Resilience to Information Disorder

Workshops

• Tools to Understand and Address Issues of Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence
• Positive Emotions and Online Content
• Resilient Youth Navigating Safely
• Recreational Activities and Innovations for Young People

Day 2: Thursday, September 19, 2024

Panels 

• Creating Quality Content in the Digital Age: Audiences, Platforms and Responsibility
• The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on News Consumption and Production among Young People
• From Planning to Action: Including Media and Digital Literacy in Schools
• CREDIBLE Experiences in LAC Region

Workshops

• New Technologies for the Production and Consumption of Information 
• Critical Thinking and Appropriate Consumption in Young People
• Youth and Activism for Resilience to Manipulated Information

For more information and/or to join our live sessions visit the Regional Learning Meeting website or contact:

Laura Agosta, Chief of Party | lagosta@irex.org 

Diana Rodríguez, Regional Program Manager | drodriguez@irex.org 

USAID’s youth media literacy CREDIBLE project is implemented by IREX together with local partners in each of its implementing countries. Currently, these activities are carried out in collaboration with Entrena in the Dominican Republic, CEDRO in Peru, Paz Joven in Guatemala and Makaia in Colombia. CREDIBLE activities are made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).