UNESCO partners with Afrika Youth Movement (AYM) through Vision In Action (VIAC) in the implementation of a project titled ‘Empowering Young People in Africa through Media and Communications” which benefits eight countries in West and Central Africa: Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea-Conakry, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal.
As stated in an information fact sheet released by AYM, the focus of the project is to empower young boys and girls to make informed decisions on migration.
The project contained 10 original UNESCO messages. And translated from English and French into 4 national and local languages (Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa and Pidgin) in Nigeria. The HD audio formats is also available.
You can download the translated and audio messages via the links below:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1k_cUmoujqR7rTft7zk6lqk6MDX8XvzcZ?usp=sharinga
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Z47S3lRi6oesFa8nAXJ2QWf6uzAsef25?usp=sharing
UNESCO wants discrimination against migrants discouraged. They also urged migrants to trust only official sources of information and credible media outlets; so as to fight against false news.
As UNESCO partners with Afrika Youth Movement, other international organisations should follow suit. More so, all hands must be on deck to end discrimination against migrants as well as disinformation about COVID-19.
In a conversation with one of the transcribers that worked on the project, Babafemi Adetokun, he asserted that “the importance of the media can never be underestimated at this period that the world is being ravaged by COVID-19, coupled with the drastic effects it has on migrants.” He went on further to say “Information is powerful only when it is fair, balance and true.”
