ECFOLI

Milon

ECFOLI is an innovative Media education and Information Literacy (MIL) project aiming at fostering sustainable conflict resolution strategies through the study and ownership of the common Mediterranean culture, in particular local cultural heritage. The project overall involved five countries including Portugal, Palestine, Cyprus, Morocco, and France targeting youth age 16. The project was funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ program for Strategic Partnerships and Youth; the ECFOLI project helped motivated young people to be active within their community. The project helped youth see the positive aspects of their communities, starting with their cultural heritage. By the end of the project, youth participants felt greater pride in the communities and cultural heritage. They have gained skills to not only be on the receiving end of media information, but also to be ECFOLI Ambassadors, who can positively express their opinions through their own Media creations.

Participants have had the opportunity to interact online and offline via travel experiences to Lisbon and Paris, creating lasting friendships and true dialogue between communities, which in turn has promoted inter-cultural dialogue and respect for human rights. Giving tools to the participating youth to be active citizens in support of their local environment and society at large, ECFOLI has helped achieve these objectives through the creation of Media products by the Youth, and an e-learning platform embedded in a MOOC, all combined with the blended and experiential learning of participants, both trainers and youth.

The ECFOLI Palestinian team consists of 12 Youth from the area of Nablus, led by dynamic Youth leaders, Sarah and Asala from local universities, under the coordination of PSD. Participating in workshops on photography, digital-storytelling, coding and digital identity especially within the framework of MIL competencies, the youth had an amazing experience. The cultural heritage of focus for their MIL project was within the old city of Nabulus, especially around the Old Clock Tower – AlManara Clock Tower. Their local ECFOLI MIL project was set in the conflict of differences of local groups, in particular between the local refugee camp and locals.