Fight fake news - Preserve mental health

"<< Background >>The information is crucial for communication, but it is simultaneously susceptible to misuse, leading to the spread of fake news. Social media, as a significant channel for information exchange, does not require source citation, making it challenging to establish the reliability of information. The problem is compounded by misinformation, negatively impacting people's mental health in terms of anxiety, depression, and fatigue. Since there is no unified approach to addressing the impact of fake news on mental health at the EU level, taking action within the local community provides the best foundation for disseminating positive results.The most effective approach has been the use of critical thinking and analysis, which is why planned activities would focus on strengthening critical thinking through innovative digital non-formal training.Partner organizations recognize that reaching young people is easiest through the internet. Therefore, working with young people to empower critical thinking should be based on innovative digital tools.NGO's are the best actors for primary community intervention, and they will disseminate the developed innovative tools and methods to their network of collaborators from other sector.<< Objectives >>Through this project, we aimed to establish collaboration with less experienced local organizations in Greece and Spain within a similar scope of activities. Our goal was to achieve an international dimension in our work and develop innovative non-formal education programs to involve a greater number of young people with fewer opportunities in the critical examination of news and content available on portals and social media.In this way, we sought to enhance the quality of the participating organizations' work with young people.The project aimed to strengthen the capacities of youth workers from organizations that have not participated or have limited experience in implementing international training.The objective was to enable them to promptly recognize the impact of fake news on the mental health of young users and equip them to constructively respond to the needs of young people with fewer opportunities.The project aimed to develop new digital tools focused on improving the quality of training for young people in recognizing the distinction between reality and media representation. It aimed to strengthen the capacities of participating and collaborating organizations in using innovative digital tools in future work.<< Implementation >>Through this project, transnational project meetings were conducted in Croatia, Greece, and Spain. Media literacy training was carried out in each participating country, and new non-formal methods were developed for representatives of collaborating organizations with the aim of preparing the development of a new training program. A non-formal training program on the topic ""The Impact of Fake News on the Mental Health of Youth"" was created, along with a manual for individual work on strengthening the mental health of disadvantaged youth. Accompanying digital tools were developed, including a digital manual, e-training program, quizzes to enhance critical thinking, and more. A training session for trainers was held, providing youth workers from participating organizations with the skills to implement the developed program with young people in their communities. The final activity involved the collaborating organizations working to disseminate the results achieved in the previous project activities. A database of supporting organizations was established, and efforts were made to expand the network of participating organizations with the goal of disseminating project results.<< Results >>1.Quality and innovative practices have been developed for working with youth with fewer opportunities in areas that correspond to the needs of the involved organizations and beyond2.An international dimension of action has been realized among the participating organizations, facilitating the exchange of best practices3.Active citizenship in the local community has been supported by incorporating a European dimension into the work of the involved organizations4.The capacities of participating organizations to work with youth in the field of mental health have been strengthened through the development of new digital tools and training program5.The transformation of the actions of the involved organizations from traditional to digital has been supported.6.The NGO sector has been strengthened to operate in crisis situations and times of significant exposure of youth to fake news7.Contributions have been made to preserving European values among youth susceptible to manipulative actions by anti-European actors8.A non-formal education program Impact of Fake News on Mental Health has been developed along with a Manual for Individual Work on Strengthening and Protecting the Mental Health of Young People with Fewer Opportunities"