JMI presents its achievements in Media Literacy and local radios in Brussels

Brussels, 4 May 2017 &ndash; UNESCO Amman Office together with the UNESCO Liaison Office in Brussels organized today a technical meeting to present the concrete achievements of the EU funded &ldquo;Support to Media in Jordan&rdquo; project at the UNESCO Brussels Liaison Office in Brussels, Belgium.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Representatives from the Directorate General for Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG-NEAR), of the EU External Action Services as well as representatives of media development institutions attended the event.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> &ldquo;We are very pleased to be able to reflect and showcase the concrete results of this intense three years period of project implementation,&rdquo; said Ms. Costanza Farina, UNESCO Representative to Jordan. &ldquo;A lot has been achieved, particularly in the areas of journalism education, new systematic training for practicing journalists, and the introduction of media and information literacy (MIL) concepts in Jordanian schools and universities for the first time, among others,&rdquo; Ms. Farina added.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> Ms. Hanadi Gharaibeh and Ms. Lidija Sabados, Associate Project Officers at UNESCO Amman Office, gave an overview of the media landscape in Jordan and presented the project&rsquo;s key achievements in the areas of journalism training, support to community and local radios, access to information for public servants, and media self-regulation. They were joined by the project&rsquo;s partners from Jordan Media Institute, Ms. Bayan Tal and Ms. Nihad Jariri, who are respectively managing the media and information literacy (MIL) and the capacity building for local radios project components. In addition, Dr. Khalaf Tahat from Yarmouk University in the north of Jordan, presented the review and improvement in his university&rsquo;s journalism curricula as a result of the project&rsquo;s engagement and recommendations.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;Freedom of expression is one of the essential foundations of the European Union, of which a free and pluralistic media environment is a key component,&rdquo; stated Mr. Andrea M Fontana, EU Ambassador to Jordan, from Jordan.<br /> <br /> &ldquo;The EU works closely with UNESCO in Jordan to support the media sector through inclusive policy dialogue with the government, journalists and civil society. We promote media information literacy in schools to encourage responsible citizenship, support community radios to enhance the information of communities and build the capacity of journalists, civil society and government to promote active political participation&rdquo;, he added.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> &ldquo;The European Union and UNESCO are natural partners in media development as we share the value of freedom of expression. We would once again like to express our gratitude to the EU for the strong confidence and support that have contributed to the impressive results and we hope to continue working together,&rdquo; said Ms. Farina.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> The &ldquo;Support to Media in Jordan&rdquo; Project is a comprehensive three-year project aimed at supporting Jordan&rsquo;s efforts in advancing the Jordanian media to further increase its freedom, independence and professionalism. The three-year project (2014 &ndash; 2017) is generously funded by the European Union and implemented by the UNESCO Amman office in close collaboration with the Minister of State for Media Affairs and the media community in Jordan.<br /> <br /> &nbsp;