"The Missing Strategic Holistic Approach
Every selected country is going through a process of securitization of the media literacy as part of national security and defence. These changes were made in response to military and informational aggression from Russia, however, each faces the threat at a different scale. In all countries, there is a need for a holistic strategic approach to media literacy. At the same time, this approach has developed at different rates in each country. Nevertheless, in each country there are attempts or plans to create systemic policy with action plans. The main obstacles, however, can be summed up in the following ways: the lack of a holistic vision and evidence-based approach; missing a joint understanding and definition of the role of media literacy in society; low level institutional coordination and cooperation; a lack of resources; and a lack of political will to define and prioritise selected vulnerable groups, including minorities.
Government Institutions: Trust, Transparency and the Required Coordination and Cooperation
Different approaches are implemented in designing institutional leadership in each country. In Ukraine and Georgia, there are attempts to establish consolidating bodies (separated or based on Ministries). In Latvia and Moldova, there are no clear publicly available strategies for development. Among the most common institutional implementers in all countries are the Ministries responsible for education, culture and digital technologies and transformation. In each country there are attempts (at different stages of implementation) to create governmental agencies and/or platforms to combine media literacy initiatives and activities. At the same time, a strong connection to the government raises concerns within the NGO community, especially in countries with high levels of corruption. There is a clear need for more trust, based on transparency between state and non-state actors. As a result of a missing strategic approach, there are problems with government related cross-institutional cooperation - among ministries, regulators and governmental agencies in every country. While strategic documents underline the priority of critical media literacy and outline the skills needed to evaluate information for well-informed decision making, the dominant approach in all four countries, is for certain government bodies to focus on digital literacies and technical skills, and not on critical thinking.
Non-Governmental and International Organisations: Setting the Agenda
This lack of understanding, coordination and cooperation among government structures, accompanied by the dominance and importance of non-governmental actors, creates an imbalance in setting the agenda. NGOs mostly get financial resources from international organisations and foreign actors. Donors and supporters through requesting specific projects, developing calls and competing initiatives are transforming the media literacy environment at the AAA level - by selecting actors, defining audiences and endorsing activities. The current agendas of international supporters and donors are aimed to fill gaps - to support the non-governmental community and to create projects for minorities, also in minority languages. However, international organisations need to evaluate interventions, and they need to come up with projects adapted for local audiences, as well as demonstrate successful examples to other non-governmental partners in other countries." (General findings, pages 4-5)