Improving Media Literacy among Young Roma and Egyptians in Montenegro

A media and information literacy (MIL) project by Center for Affirmation of RE-Population (CAREP) in partnership with Roma European Alternative (REA) focused on young Roma and Egyptians (RE) in Montenegro.

The project contributed to spreading the knowledge about the media and its impact among RE youth, as well as to strengthening awareness about the great positive and negative impacts that the media exerts when reporting about marginalized groups.

The project is part of the sub-granting scheme of the regional project »Media for Citizens, Citizens for Media«, implemented in 5 countries of the Western Balkans. The aim of the projects is to increase the CSOs’ capacities for promotion of MIL practices and policies at a local level. In this series we present a number of implemented projects. 

The activities encompassed: a video campaign to strengthen MIL awareness among RE population; 5 focus groups with RE adolescents on the life in the times of Covid epidemic and relation towards media; 2 workshops introducing media and information literacy to 41 participants; a webinar on prejudices among young RE population and the youth of the majority populations.

The aims of the video campaign were strengthening media awareness within RE population along with pointing to the prevalent mode of media reporting on this marginalized group, the problems it faces and possible strategies for overcoming them. The campaign indirectly targeted the majority population so as to help present a real image of the RE population within Montenegrin society.

Video ‘The importance of the media for youth and their success’ features a pedagogist belonging to Roma population who points out the necessity that the media report about successful young people like her, particularly because she belongs to a marginalized group, in order to reduce prejudice against Roma in Montenegrin society. 

Another video explores various angles of media reporting on RE population in Montenegro while stressing the need to educate more Roma journalists.

MIL trainer reflects on the workshops that introduced MIL within this project to RE youth in a video where she tackles various angles of the need for MIL education to target this population, including the interest she perceives among youth to work in the media.

A video featuring two representatives of Roma NGOs speaks about the influence of the media on the youth, poor media reporting and needs for proper reporting on the RE population.  

Another video discusses media reporting about RE population through the eyes of an expert.

The added value of the project was in targeting the RE minority in the town of Niksic with the total population of only 60.000 as Niksic is often in the shadow of the capital of Podgorica when it comes to the activities of CSOs. At the time when unemployment rate is very high in Niksic, youth and minorities such as RE population are at a particular disadvantage.


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The regional program “Media for Citizens – Citizens for Media: Strengthening the Capacity of NGOs for the Development of Media and Information Literacy in the Western Balkans” is implemented with the support of the European Union by partner organizations Mediacentar SarajevoAlbanian Media Institute,Macedonian Institute for MediaMontenegrin Media InstituteNovi Sad School of JournalismPeace InstituteSEENPM.