In order to raise public awareness of the significance, scale and topicality of the tasks of media and information literacy advocacy among information, media and educational professionals, government executives and public at large the International Conference Media and Information Literacy for Knowledge Societies was held in Moscow, Russian Federation, on 24−28 June, 2012. Maria-Carme Torras i Calvo, Chairperson of the IFLA Information Literacy Section andAlbert Boekhorst, Information Coordinator, attended the conference; Albert provided one of the Keynotes and Maria-Carme moderated some of the plenary sessions.

The final document from the conference—The Moscow Declaration on Media and Information Literacy—was discussed and unanimously adopted at the Conference closing session.

Read the Declaration http://www.ifla.org/en/publications/moscow-declaration-on-media-and-information-literacy

The Conference was organised by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications, the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO, UNESCO Information for All Programme and UNESCO Secretariat, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education, the Russian Committee of the UNESCO Information for All Programme, and the Interregional Library Cooperation Centre within the framework of Russia’s chairmanship in the Intergovernmental UNESCO Information for All Programme.

The Conference offered a unique opportunity for the delegates to identify the key existing challenges in the field, to outline policies and professional strategies for the advocacy of media and information literacy (MIL), to promote best practices and strengthen international cooperation among various stakeholders. In particular the following topics were discussed:

MIL Conceptualization within Knowledge Societies

Assessment of national competencies on MIL

Development of MIL indicators

MIL mainstreaming, application and advocacy

MIL capacity building, tools and resources:

MIL in education of professional community and continuous professional development

MIL integration in educational system, roles and responsibilities, national and institutional adaptation of tools and resources, and knowledge sharing

MIL for marginalized social groups (youth, elderly people, persons with disabilities, women).

Regarding that MIL is directly linked to UNESCO’s mandate and strategic objectives oriented to build inclusive knowledge societies, holding this Conference is also significant for consolidating and further developing the UNESCO Information for All Programme which was established primarily for providing guidance to all of the UNESCO Member States involved in building an inclusive pluralistic information society.

The Conference gathered approximately 130 participants from 40 countries representing all continents: Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, Cape Verde, China, Croatia, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Russian Federation, Serbia, Sudan, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America, Zambia.