Digital Media Literacy and Youth Civic Reasoning in Kenya @TheYouthCafe #MILCLICKS

Published by the Youth Cafe on 4 August are a set of reports on digital and media literacy of young people in Kenya. The baseline report provides a literature review, and summarises findings from two focus groups and two interviews, finishing with recommendations. Two further reports go into more detail about the findings from the focus group and interviews. 

Their goal was to gather evidence and guidance to prepare a media literacy handbook for Kenyan young people. There are recommendations to Government (the first of which is "The national government should make digital-media literacy a segment of ICT education at all levels and incorporate it into the new curriculum" - a straightforward recommendation lacking in the UK's recent media literacy strategy), Youth organisations, Multilateral organisations, young people themselves (thus putting responsibility on youth, as well as responsibility on others), and for the design of the proposed handbook. A recommendation for the handbook that caught my eye was that "While civic reasoning is the goal for the media literacy handbook, media literacy also affects other areas such as mental health and employment. It is necessary to design the handbook for ease of adoption for such themes as a sustainability strategy." 

Altogether it is an interesting set of documents, and it is only a pity that the potential role of librarians doesn't get mentioned. The baseline report's reference list is useful in focusing on the Kenyan context (since so many studies of critical media literacy look at Western contexts).

Digital Media Literacy and Youth Civic Reasoning in Kenya: Baseline report: https://www.theyouthcafe.com/tools-and-publications/digital-media-literacy-and-youth-civic-reasoning-in-kenya-baseline-report 

Digital Media Literacy and Youth Civic Reasoning in Kenya: focus group discussion report: https://www.theyouthcafe.com/tools-and-publications/digital-media-literacy-and-youth-civic-reasoning-in-kenya-focus-group-discussion-report 

Digital Media Literacy and Youth Civic Reasoning in Kenya: Key informant interview report: https://www.theyouthcafe.com/tools-and-publications/digital-media-literacy-and-youth-civic-reasoning-in-kenya-key-informant-interview-report