UST CASA officially becomes a member of UNESCO's GAPMIL

Photo by UNESCO

With countless misinformation and “fake news” constantly circulating on the internet, media and information literacy are highly needed in today’s society more than ever before. Luckily for UST CASA, the good news is on the horizon as the community officially becomes a member of UNESCO’s Global Alliance for Partnerships on Media and Information Literacy.

As UST CASA’s very own President, Mx. Jeia Jazul’s accomplished platform aimed for CASA to become a member of UNESCO's Global Alliance for Partnerships on Media and Information Literacy (GAPMIL), UST CASA Chronicle approached her to ask a few questions about what this alliance of CASA with UNESCO means.

What is UNESCO's Global Alliance for Partnerships on Media and Information Literacy (GAPMIL) and what does it entail?

“The UNESCO GAPMIL, now known as the UNESCO MIL Alliance, is an initiative by UNESCO to gather all organizations in the entire world that advocate for Media and Information Literacy and share their events with each other and attend partner events all around the world. The Alliance has many committees that the organizations may join, and UST-CASA is a member of the Youth Committee.”

 

According to UNESCO, the Global Alliance for Partnerships on Media and Information Literacy (GAPMIL) is an effort to unite nations in promoting media and information competency to be accessible to people from all walks of life. It’s a global project wherein organizations and individuals from over one hundred countries have agreed to ally up in prioritizing the message of skillfully using and making informed judgments when interacting with media, especially on the world wide web. 

This initiative was started back on June 26 to June 28, 2013, in Abuja, Nigeria during the Global Forum for Partnerships on Media and Information Literacy. 

How was CASA able to achieve this deal with UNESCO? What were the steps that made for this membership with GAPMIL possible?

“UNESCO has a form available on their website that CASA filled out. After a few days, we were notified of our membership via email. We also reached out to the Youth Committee Director here in the Philippines to validate our membership at the MIL Alliance.”

What does this membership of CASA mean for CASAns and the whole of CASA? How are they affected by all of this? What exactly is the significance of this to the CASAn community?

“This membership expands CASA's reach in its primary advocacy, media and information literacy, from only the immediate CASAn community to the whole world. We aim to post our initiatives that involve the advocacy on UNESCO's MIL Alliance calendar. Our CASAns can expect a globalized reach of our MIL agendas and more opportunities to explore events related to MIL across the globe.”

What are your plans going forward with this approved membership with GAPMIL and how would you approach it? 

“Moving forward, we aim to share UNESCO's initiatives with the CASAn community, such as the upcoming Media and Information Literacy Week happening later this month. They may join in on the discussions happening across the world! It's a great opening for our CASAns to engage in MIL and promote this within their own community at home.”

 

In addition to that, she concluded with an invitation to MIL Week 20222 to be held starting on October 24, 2022 and ending on October 31, 2022, where you may register at the official website of UNESCO MIL Alliance.

This is exciting news as this can lead to more opportunities for CASAns; additionally, it will help in building better media and information literacy, especially in today’s digital climate. 

For more news and updates, visit UST CASA's official Facebook Page to keep up with their announcements.