The Media Education Centre (MEC) for children and youth is a nonpolitical, nonprofit, nonsectarian NGO. Youth from different socio cultural backgrounds work together to produce film, animation, television and other media to advance Communication, Intercultural Dialogue, and Voluntarism. Their work promotes the informal education of children, youth, disabled people, migrants, refugees and other vulnerable groups. Media education and literacy help to ensure human and children’s rights: to information, democracy, self-expression and preservation of cultural, national and religious diversity.
The mission of the Media Education Centre is to promote role of the Young People in the transition to sustainable ways of living and a global society founded on a shared ethical framework that includes respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, universal human rights, respect for diversity, economic justice, democracy, and a culture of peace.
The Media Education Centre is the headquarters for the International Youth Media Summit, Media Laboratory and Balkan PLUS! We are a member of or partner with the United Nations Alliance for Civilization, CICT/IFTC-UNESCO (Council International for Film, TV and Audio Video Communication of UNESCO), International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media, Media4ME Network, EAVI-European Association for Viewers Interests, ECFA (European Children’s Film Association), United Nations Plural PLUS Film Festival, Platform for Intercultural Europe and other international organizations. Their precious support has enabled us to follow international trends associated with media literacy for children and youth and informal education through multimedia. By working on projects involving children and youth from all over the world, we have, in turn, contributed towards improving global communication and cooperation.
Main part of the Media Education Centre is Media Laboratory, place and space for children, young people and all other people interested to learn about media, film, animation, TV, radio, ICT and Multimedia. Media Laboratory was opened on March 2006 with support of the Danish Film Institute, Austrian Federal Ministry of Culture, European Cultural Foundation from The Netherlands and Italian Association Abaton. We are working all over the year six days weekly in six departments: short FILM, ANIMATION, TV, RADIO, ICT and Multimedia. Students of the ML are youngsters 12 to 25 and at the moment we have 13 of our members University students of the Film Academy in Belgrade or other film schools in Europe.
The MEC currently
- Works with various organizations to organize professional meetings, symposia and Summits on media literacy and education, multimedia for children and youth, the development of civil society; cultural, national and religious diversity; human and children’s rights; intercultural dialogue and social inclusion of marginalized groups of people such as Roma people, migrants and refugees, people with handicap, small ethnic groups, young people with less opportunity.
- Collects, investigates and works on producing scientific and professional literature in the field
- Participates in activities that promote media education and literacy for children and youth as a tool to facilitate social change, peacemaking, reconciliation of the relationship and the development of civil society and democracy, especially in the Balkans.
- Participates in no formal, nonprofit education for children and youth to qualify them to learn how to use ICT and digital media technologies with the aim of preserving cultural, national and religious differences, protecting cultural and historical inheritance and ensuring access to media information and active participation in producing MEDIA for children and youth;
- Cooperates with professional associations and other organizations from Serbia and abroad that are working to establish the basic conditions necessary for the diffusion of media literacy, media education, television programming, and audio video communications and media projects for children and young people all over the world.
Location
Belgrade, Serbia
Website
