Theme: Youth Leading the Way – Media and Information Literacy and the New Digital Frontiers of Information

The Youth Hackathon, an integral component of the Global MIL Week, offers a global stage for youth participation and engagement, aiming to harness innovation and youth-led initiatives to respond to the Week’s theme, in particular the growing role of digital content creators and influencers in the information landscape; and the challenges posed by artificial intelligence. 

The winning teams will be invited to Amman, Jordan, on October 30 and 31 to present their projects during the closing ceremony of the Global MIL Week Feature Conference. 

1. Empower youth: Provide opportunities for youth to actively engage in shaping the discourse surrounding Media and Information Literacy, fostering a sense of ownership and empowerment. 
2. Foster innovation: Encourage youth to explore innovative solutions to promote public interest information on digital platforms and address challenges related to mis and disinformation, hate speech.
3. Generate actionable insights: Generate actionable insights and recommendations that can inform policymaking, educational initiative and community-based interventions aimed to enhancing Media and Information Literacy worldwide.

The participants will focus on one of the following topics to design innovative solution and scheme their proposals:

1. Empowering youth to become active participants in shaping the digital spaces they inhabit, finding ways to promote public interest information rather than passive consumers of information. 
2. Exploring innovative solutions to address the challenges posed by Artificial Intelligence.
3. Exploring receptive and effective approaches to Media and Information Literacy Education and Capacity Building through Peer education and Feeding Education.
4. Activating Youth Organizations to be agents of change through collaborating with digital content creators.

• 5 July 2024: Registration opens

• 18 August 2024: Registration ends

• Last week of August 2024: Two-day online mentoring programme offered to all registered participants (dates TBC)

• 8 September 2024: Deadline for submissions

• 9-20 September 2024: Judging process

• 31 October 2024: Presentation of the winning projects during the closing ceremony of the Global MIL Week Conference in Amman, Jordan.  

• Teams will comprise 3-6 members (ensuring gender parity, teams can be national, regional, or international).

• Members must be aged between 18 and 30 years old and adhere to UNESCO’s values such as peace, respect for diversity, freedom of expression.

• No previous experience is required.

• Games

• Applications/Websites

• Radio programmes/Podcasts

• Educational toolkits

• Creative community-based interventions (non-technology focused)

• Other creative modalities for innovative interventions

Each submission to include a document presenting the solution and a 3-minute video pitch (a creative format is strongly recommended). They must include:

• The team composition

• Problem statement, objectives, audience, and alignment with this year’s challenges

• Explanation of the prototype

• Feasibility

• Sustainability

• Creativity

• Deployment strategies / Business model and evidence of market validation

Find out about the 2023 winning teams here. 

For any additional information, please contact us: MILunit@unesco.org