Digital Storytelling for Active Citizenship: Empowering Youth through Migration Narratives

<< Background >>We applied for the “Digital Storytelling for Active Citizenship: Empowering Youth through Migration Narratives” project to address the significant challenges of biased media narratives and misinformation about migrants and migration, which heavily influence public opinion and democratic participation.By focusing on youth, particularly those underrepresented in media, we aimed to empower them with media literacy skills, inform them about predominant migration narratives, strengthen their DEI competencies, and enhance their active citizenship. This project directly supports the Erasmus+ goals of promoting active citizenship and inclusion among young people, aligning with our organizations’ missions to foster informed, inclusive public discourse to combat polarization and discrimination and to build inclusive and sustainable societies. << Objectives >>We aimed to achieve the following by implementing the project: 1) Use digital storytelling and solutions journalism to promote active citizenship and enhance DEI competencies among youth. 2) Empower youth to critically engage with and discuss migration, diversity, and inclusion issues within both local and European contexts, by improving their media literacy skills and digital competencies. 3) Develop and distribute a digital guide for self-learning to further spread knowledge on media literacy, DEI competencies, and migration among a broader audience of youth workers, teachers, and young people. << Implementation >>Kick-off Meeting: A three-day workshop held in Vaasa, where participants were briefed on project goals, introduced to digital storytelling and migration narratives, and engaged in networking. Blended/online learning events: These included two virtual trainings: one on migration in the media and another on migration in the European context. We also held two hybrid workshops, where local participants gathered in person and interacted online with participants from the other country, covering solutions journalism and digital storytelling. Each partner led one virtual training and one hybrid workshop, leveraging their respective expertise. Digital Storytelling Workshop: This two-day workshop in Berlin equipped participants with practical skills in interviewing, filming, and editing to support the production of their own digital to support the production of their own digital stories. Production and publication of digital stories: Following the workshops, youth began producing their digital stories with mentorship from the project team. Mentorship sessions were often conducted in pairs to facilitate peer learning and support.Migration, diversity and inclusion in media: A self-learning guide was developed and published.<< Results >>Digital Stories: The project participants successfully produced 10 digital stories. Of the completed stories, 6 video stories were published on the Migration Matters YouTube channel, and 5 digital stories were published on the Cooperative 3E's Shorthand platform. Learning Journals: Each participant kept a journal for reflecting their personal learning and providing feedback of project results. A blog text, summarizing the learning results among participants, was produced and published.Digital Self-Learning Guide: A comprehensive self-learning guide was developed and published.This guide is designed to enhance understanding of migration, diversity, equity and inclusion primarily among young adults and in the media context, but the guide is also relevant to stakeholders who wish to understand the themes better and improve their own media and digital literacy skills (e.g. youth workers and educators). Project Team's Digital Story: A 6-minute digital story produced by the project team was also created, detailing the project’s objectives, outcomes, and key learnings. This story serves as a resource for stakeholders to understand the impact and methodology of the project. An excerpt for social media promotion was also created.