The Third Regional Lab on Youth Policies on Media Literacy and Digitalization was held on 22 May 2025, with the participation of 22 representatives from civil society, media, academia and institutions from the Western Balkan countries – North Macedonia, Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The participants discussed current policies, situations and processes in the field of media literacy and the needs of young people and the level of digitalization in the region. As a continuation of the discussions from the first and second regional labs, held in 2024, the participants recommend encouraging the media to adapt content for digital platforms and for young people in order to reduce the gap between traditional media and young people.
Participants focused on developing recommendations in several areas:
– Harmonizing national legislation with EU standards on media and digital literacy and encouraging the alignment of legal frameworks with EU directives to ensure consistent and high-quality media education.
– Integrating media and digital literacy into national education laws and curriculum strategies, and formalizing these topics as part of the national education system to guarantee their sustainability at all levels of education.
– Investing in the development and preparation of new professionals with the skills to implement media education curricula, as well as supporting teacher training programs and university modules that equip educators with practical tools for teaching media literacy.
– Making media and digital literacy education practical, not just theoretical, and encouraging hands-on learning, critical thinking and real-life application in classrooms to improve student engagement and understanding.
The Regional Laboratory for Youth, Media Literacy and Digitalization is part of the project “Regional Youth Dialogue for Europe – RYDE”, supported by the European Union. The project is implemented by the Center for Democracy Foundation from Serbia in cooperation with civil society organizations (CSOs) from the Western Balkans: Academy for European Integration and Negotiations and Youth Action Center (Albania), Kosovo Stability Initiative (Kosovo), Network of Progressive Initiatives (Bosnia and Herzegovina), NGO Info-center Foundation (North Macedonia) and Regional Academy for Democratic Development (Serbia).
