Pan Africa Youth Leadership Program (PAYLP) – 2023 Mini-Grant Highlights – Ethiopia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The PAYLP team at Meridian is thrilled to spotlight a transformative Mini-Grant project led by Spring 2023 alumni Addisalem, Yabets, and Efrata from Ethiopia. Their initiative, "Awareness Creation on Media Literacy to Counter Misinformation and Disinformation at Schools in Ethiopia," is creating safer educational environments by equipping students and educators with critical media literacy skills.

Through this impactful project, the team conducted three in-person sessions reaching over 200 high school students and educators, and two online sessions engaging around 50 participants. Throughout the awareness campaign, they collaborated with local media agencies, Jimma American Corner, high schools, NGO Wereda Communication, and university instructors to bring expert guest speakers and spread their message to a wider audience.

Addisalem, Yabets, and Efrata attribute their project's success to the invaluable skills they acquired during the PAYLP 2023 program, such as forging key community partnerships and setting actionable goals using the SMARTIE method. Their advice to future PAYLP participants: Be willing to learn from community members and listen to all team members’ perspectives to create meaningful and impactful solutions.