The "Fact-check it!" project was born out of a growing concern over the spread of misinformation and disinformation in today’s digital world. With social media, the internet, and digital platforms making it easier than ever for information to travel fast, separating facts from fiction has become a major challenge. This project’s relevance is deeply tied to the issues we’re facing today. Misinformation can have serious, widespread effects. It is contributing to political polarization, deepening social divisions, and eroding trust in institutions. Youth workers play an essential role in shaping the values and behavior of young people. Often working with vulnerable or marginalized groups, they’re in a prime position to educate and guide youth on important issues, like media literacy. However, many youth workers lack the training they need to tackle misinformation themselves. This gap in knowledge is critical, because in order for youth workers to guide the next generation through the complexities of modern media, they first need to be equipped with the tools to identify and challenge misinformation. Without this, there’s a risk they could unintentionally contribute to the cycle of fake news. The project also focused on marginalized groups—those facing exclusion, poverty, or lack of access to education—who are especially vulnerable to misinformation. These communities often don’t have access to the learning opportunities that may influence them to question the sources of information and may lack the media literacy skills needed to critically evaluate what they see online. As a result, they’re at a higher risk of being manipulated by false narratives. By empowering youth workers who work directly with youth, the “Fact-check it!” project aimed to help strengthen their resilience against misinformation, allowing them to make more informed choices. The project had several key goals: - Raise awareness and increase youth workers' understanding of the concept of fake news and its implications for society. - Promote media literacy and equip youth workers with the knowledge and skills necessary to critically evaluate media sources, identify misinformation, and make informed decisions about the information they consume. - Enhance critical thinking by developing youth workers' ability to think critically about information presented in various media formats and discern facts from fiction. - Create fact-checkers, through practical tools and techniques for information fact-checking and myths debunking. - Foster ethical journalism practices, by promoting ethical standards and responsible reporting practices among youth workers. - Enhance leadership skills in European youth workers to transform them into agents of positive change. - Build cross-border connections, facilitate networking and relationship-building among youth workers from different countries and backgrounds. - Utilize digital platforms for collaboration and leverage online platforms for the exchange of ideas, and develop digital content for online campaigns. - Encourage civic engagement, by inspiring a sense of responsibility and engagement in youth workers towards contributing to fighting disinformation in their local communities. - Facilitate collaboration and enable youth workers to collaborate on designing media literacy campaigns and developing strategies for addressing misinformation within their communities. - Cultivate lifelong learning, by instilling a mindset of continuous learning and personal development. - Develop a sense of belonging to the EU and its values, by exploring the principles of democracy, human rights, and cultural diversity as fundamental components of EU identity.