Rectifying Adverse Communication Effects

The information we consume daily, regardless of the source, largely determines our perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes and possibly how much personal development we attain. While digital technology has increased the ease of accessing and consuming information, and extended the reach and influence of those creating it, there is a gap in ethical consumption, leading to issues such as misinformation and cyberbullying. Media information Literacy as mooted by UNESCO has been shown to help with the problem.

Our project aims to provide young adults; 15 to 25, in rural communities, left out of most interventions, media literacy skills needed for becoming responsible consumers and creators of information. MIL will also help them recognize and positively respond to cyberbullying using a combination of in-person training and in future, an online platform which will increase reach in providing support to parents and youngsters who deal with cyberbullying and misinformation.

The ease to access to information has outpaced the preparedness of students to validate  the credibility of information and to understand the nature and uses of the media at their disposal.

A report by Deutsche Welle, states that 70% of 15-25-year-olds (nearly 8 million people) in Ghana go online via mobiles phone every week. Facebook and WhatsApp being the most popular online destinations. The biggest concern in this report is that this demographic shows a lack of reflection concerning adverse forms of communication such as hate speech, cyberbullying, and disinformation which has been compounded by the proliferation of smart phones, super-spreaders with huge follower, few fact-checkers and under-trained content creators.

The inability of young people to critically think about the information they consume, and to ethically think about the information they produce or disseminate leads to the propagation of false information and cyberbullying.

RACE aims to support young people to make informed decisions as consumers of information as well as responsible creators and disseminators of information and media messages.

The aim of RACE is to equip students in secondary schools and young adults between the ages of 15 and 20 with the skills needed to be responsible consumers and creators of information and to recognize and positively respond to cyberbullying.

2000 will be trained across 10 institutions in rural Ghana using a combination of peer methods (using more savvy counterparts from urban settings), teacher led sessions in the form of a bootcamp and games. The project will educate participants on how to stay safe online and teach them to recognize fake information, how to identify and use trusted sources, create private profiles, spring clean contacts, protect their identities, keep personal information private and spot phishing materials.

The skills training will include new developments in the media and information literacy sphere including artificial intelligence, privacy issues, cultural literacy and intercultural understanding, the rise in disinformation and online hate speech. The bootcamp sessions will employ multiple mediums of impacting knowledge such as real-life videos and case studies.

A Parent Support Helpline and chatbot will also be created to offer information, and support to parents or guiders to help children who have been involved in bullying either as victims or perpetrators.

The gap between rural urban Ghana is huge especially when it comes to access to internet and mobile telephony infrastructure. Therefore others who have sought to deal with the dual issues of misinformation and cyberbullying have all concentrated on urban youth. In our MIL projects, we realized that gradually, the youth in rural areas have similar access to online content due to the proliferation of smart phones across Ghana. Our project intends to target rural youth, who are also online even if not in the same quantities as their urban counterparts and to bridge the gap in knowledge that has been created by the focus of interventions in urban communities. Since MIL has not been introduced into the educational curriculum, we know that something has to be done urgently to conscientize this underserved group on the effects of propagating unethical information online and to teach them how to mitigate cyberbullying that happens to them, their friends or their wider communities.

Having worked on MIL including factchecking, over the last 4years we know that young people in rural communities feel left behind although they believe themselves to be dealing with the same problems because of the ability of the internet to level the field of play, and so we know that our project will be well received within this group.

RACE aims to complement ICT skills that young adults gain in secondary schools with media-information literacy training and create a platform for students to support each other while providing an avenue for guardians to learn how to support their wards.  In this way our project aligns with the Digital Inclusion Challenge and the Education Challenge.

Teaching young people media-information literacy which has not been introduced into the Ghanaian educational-curriculum, and supporting them to identify and deal with misinformation and cyberbullying will ensure that there is a drop in documented consequences which include self-harm, dropping out of school, and suicide. 

Penplusbytes partnered with DW Akademie to lead a campaign for Media and Information Literacy hinged around content on the newly developed manual – “Media and Elections: Informed Youth Making Informed Choices”. This project contributed significantly in the reduction of misinformation around Ghana elections. This tested and successful model will be used beyond the sphere of media and elections. RACE introduces the broader subject of MIL to young people between 15 and 25 years to empower them to be active, analytical, and ethical users and producers of media content in their everyday social lives. These young people will act as ambassadors of RACE and a beacon of change that will influence the Ghanaian society’s view on MIL.

It introduces into the standard MIL curriculum, new development in the media and information literacy sphere including artificial intelligence, privacy issues, cultural literacy and intercultural understanding, the rise in disinformation and online hate speech.

• It creates an avenue for participants to support each other by matching mentors with mentees in the form of one-on-one friendships.
• Introduces a Parent Support Helpline and chatbot to offer information, advice, and support to parents or guardians who are concerned about a child who has been involved in bullying either as victims or perpetrators.
• The model self-sustains itself by incorporating old participants into the mentorship program and giving them the skills and tools to organize cascade training and an opportunity to pay forward the support

Penplusbytes has been in partnership with DW-Akademie for 5 years now to lead a campaign focused on young people’s media consumption behavior during elections and broad areas of media literacy. The campaign reached a modest estimate of 1.2 million people via social media, TV, and radio.

Beyond the sphere of media and elections, Penplusbytes realized that the growth of access to information has far outpaced the preparedness of students to critically think about the media at their disposal. RACE was therefore designed to equip students in secondary schools and young adults between the ages of 15 and 20 with the necessary MIL skills and as well as digital literacy.

There are about 150,000 students that are admitted into secondary schools in Ghana each year. The Ashanti, Eastern, Central, and Accra regions have the highest number of digitally exposed students and these regions will be focal point of RACE in the first year.

2% (3000) of final year students in 3 high schools in these regions will be targeted as part of RACE in the first year of the project.

The secondary school intake grows at a rate of about 5% Year-On-Year; in 5 years nearly 170,000 students will be in their final year. RACE aims to grow at a rate of 54% Year-On-Year, educating about 10% (17,000) of the final year students in the 5th year.

Using the MIL INDEX score to measure the following indicators to raise current score by at least 1point at the end of 5 years. Find below indicators and current score to be improved

• Access – the reception of media messages and knowing where to find which information.

Ghanaians are already on a digital fast track but there is a huge disparity between rural female dwellers and male urban dwellers. (10.8/20)

• Analysis – the ability to interpret and critically evaluate media messages, based on one's own media knowledge.

Ghanaians are not critical about the media they consume but the neutrality and diversity of the media is quite high. (13.1/20)

• Reflection - a critical self-examination of what type of information sources are used and what impact certain forms of communication can have.

Ghana’s youths show a lack of reflection concerning adverse forms of communication like hate speech, cyberbullying, and disinformation. (10.2/20)

• Creation – the a to create ability to compose messages to express ideas or opinions and to share information.

60% of the youth upload files online and engage in other social media activities at least sometimes. (11.4/20)

• Action - putting one’s MIL skills into practice for the benefit of the community, but also for the benefit of the individual. 

 There has been a lot of conversations about freedom of expression and access to information recently, but this is only a start and a lot still has to be done. (13.9/20)

Full Time Employee – 10

Contractors/ Researchers/ Consultants - 20

Over the past 20 years Penplusbytes has successfully conducted a number of key studies into ICT’s for development, and application of new digital technologies for good governance. With recent projects focusing on media information literacy and how filter bubbles work to exclude groups, Penplusbytes understands the need for careful curation of any digital literacy modules aimed at business success. Penplusbytes brings a collection of experience, knowledge, and talent that is unsurpassed in this specialized field in Ghana. Further, Penplusbytes’ proposed team members are highly qualified and have accumulated extensive international experience in online learning platform development, community management and teaching ICTs. 

Moreover, Penplusbytes has developed the expertise of ensuring a people-centered technology approach and development which takes into consideration issues to do with gender, equality and social inclusion in all our projects. 

Penplusbytes is successful in its project execution through building and maintaining strong partnerships through network of journalists, research institutions, civil society actors, media houses and technology companies, which enables us to leverage across board in project design, implementation, impact and outcomes. Our key principle in partnership is to avoid duplication of efforts by relying on the capacity of partners to deliver on project outcomes.

Penplusbytes derives its values of diversity, equity and inclusivity from its Gender and social inclusion (GESI) strategy as well as its safeguarding policy and code of conduct. These documents were developed with the aim of fully engaging and empowering marginalized or excluded groups as well as women in an equitable manner by creating an enabling environment and providing opportunities for their meaningful participation in Penplusbytes’ operations and initiatives.

In order to achieve the above objective and thereby mainstream GESI in the governance of the organization, Penplusbytes is very conscious of not neglecting any gender group in all its programmes and recruitment processes. All project staff members have received appropriate training to avoid gender and disability bias and eliminate all forms of gender segregation and disability discrimination during project implementation.

Our key strategy for mainstreaming GESI in the organisation’s structures is hinged on increasing access to participation and providing opportunity for leadership by women including marginalized youth in decision-making processes.

Penplusbytes continually creates awareness and builds capacity amongst management and staff about GESI indicators in monitoring and evaluation systems.

Designated safeguarding officers are responsible for handling reports or concerns, about the protection of vulnerable people, appropriately and in accordance with the procedures that underpin the safeguarding policy.

All staff members and other affiliates of Penplusbytes are obliged to follow this policy. Penplusbytes’ Executive Director is designated as the organization’s safeguarding officer who handles reports and concerns confidentially, and provides protection for vulnerable people should the need arise.

In partnership with DW-Akademie, Penplusbytes has for 5 years led a campaign focused on young people’s media consumption behavior during elections. The campaign reached a modest estimate of 1.2 million people via social media, TV, and radio.

With this experience, Penplusbytes realized that the growth of access to information had far outpaced the preparedness of students to critically think about the media at their disposal.

Beyond the sphere of media and elections, RACE was therefore designed to equip students in secondary schools and young adults between the ages of 15 and 20 with the necessary MIL skills and as well as digital literacy.

It is our hope that Solve will support this initiative with its funds, expertise, and network.

Ghana’s youth are fast embracing digital technology, three-quarters of 15-25 year-olds in urban cities own some type of smart phone. The internet has surpassed the radio as the second most used medium and is now second to only the television. Despite its rapid, adoption media information literacy has not been introduced into the educational curriculum. Without being conscientized about the harmful effects of digital misinformation and cyberbullying, they will not think critically about the information they consume nor ethically about the information they propagate. With the rapid increase in digital technology adoption, something has to be done urgently.

RACE aims to provide young adults with skills needed to be responsible consumers and creators of information and to recognize and positively respond to cyberbullying. It will use in-person training and online educational materials. The platform will also provide support to parents on how to deal with the children involved in cyberbullying.

Equipping them with the right MIL skills is an essential component of equipping them with the wider digital skills needed for participation in the digital economy.