The MinDiShield project aims to strengthen the resilience of people, especially those belonging to ethnic minority groups, against disinformation that could lead to radicalization in the participating countries (Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, and Italy).

More specifically, the project aims to:

1. Strengthen the media literacy skills of social support professionals  (social workers, psychologists, educators, community workers etc.) and/or other relevant professionals that support ethnic minority groups, to adapt their practices to fast developing media formats and changing media consumption patterns, especially in relation to the sharing/promotion of extremist narratives about ethnic identity, religion, and social or political activities, focusing on inoculation and pre-bunking.
2. Develop the capacities, sensitization, and engagement of ethnic and religious minority community leaders (such as Muslim, Jewish, and other) in building the resilience of their communities against online disinformation and violent extremist ideologies.
3. Enhance access of professionals and people belonging to ethnic minority groups to tailor-made multilingual and multicultural material about the media landscape, information, and extremist messaging.
4. Strengthen critical thinking skills and online disinformation awareness, and resilience of people belonging to ethnic minority groups.
5. Raise public awareness on how minorities are/may be used as tools in disinformation campaigns (that could lead to radicalization).
6. Promote policy recommendations for safeguarding equality and non-discrimination in media formats and tools, especially in the use of AI and algorithmic technologies.

Main activities

MinDiShield addresses mainly the following two areas of activities:

• Developing innovative, interactive online toolkits to provide solutions to existing and future challenges in the online environment, including disinformation, and
• Creating materials and toolkits to enable citizens to develop a critical approach to the media, and to recognise and appropriately react to disinformation.

In more detail, the project will develop training & awareness materials, and an interactive online toolkit, for professionals and for citizens belonging to ethnic minority groups, so as to build the skills of the former on addressing existing and future challenges in the online environment, especially minority-related disinformation, and to strengthen the media literacy skills of the latter to recognise and appropriately react to disinformation.

In addition, the project will identify, share, and build on best practices from innovative media literacy projects that consider a changing media ecosystem, and strengthen collaboration between different countries and regions of Europe, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, and Italy.

Target groups

Τhe target groups of the MinDiShield project are:

• Media literacy professionals, and social and/or other relevant support professionals (social workers, psychologists, educators, community workers etc.)
• Ethnic and religious minority community leaders (such as Muslim, Jewish and other)
• Ethnic minority groups
• CSOs and professionals working with minority groups/on human rights/on media literacy etc., community and migrants’ organisations/associations
• Media, education and/or other relevant policy makers
• Educational institutions, research and policy think tanks, media outlets, technology companies and/or other actors involved in media production and/or media literacy and/or the combating of disinformation
• The wider public.

Furthermore, citizen inclusiveness, civic engagement, and participatory culture are fundamental aspects of the project as it will:

• Develop multicultural materials that are accessible in multiple languages (EN, FR, GR, IT, NL) and reflect diverse cultural backgrounds to reach a broader audience.
• Foster the participation of minority groups members in the project activities, and ensure that their voices are heard, their concerns and their needs are addressed throughout the project lifecycle, including evaluation.
• Engage with local communities and civil society organizations to foster participation and ownership of media literacy initiatives.
• Organize public events that encourage citizens, esp. minority group members, to engage actively with media literacy issues, promoting a sense of community involvement.
• Provide training and capacity-building opportunities for citizens and professionals to enhance their media literacy skills and encourage active participation in the fight against disinformation.

During its 24-month lifetime, MinDiShield will directly and indirectly positively impact:

• at least 40 community/religious leaders
• at least 100 minority groups members
• at least 75 professionals
• at least 215 toolkit users
• at least 15 digital ‘Community of Practice’ members
• at least 380 people through physical dissemination events
• at least 10.000 people through online/digital media channels