The desinfoEND National Coordinations Commitees

The National Coordination Committees (NCC) play a pivotal role in the oversight and evaluation of every activity and output within our project. Serving as key agents for project monitoring, the NCCs ensure the active participation of the target group in organizational and decision-making spaces. The NCCs also The NCCs also serves as a testing ground for the pilot course, where participants contribute invaluable insights to evaluate and enhance the effectiveness of the Toolkit. The NCCs stand as a testament to our commitment to transparency, accountability, and community engagement, ensuring that the voices and needs of our target audience remain central to the project’s evolution and success.

What was the reason for adopting the practice of the NCCs?

Firstly, they ensure the active participation of individuals from diverse backgrounds, aligning with the project’s commitment to inclusive decision-making processes. It is paramount that those involved in the educational activities and targeted by them have a voice in shaping the project’s direction. Furthermore, the creation of NCCs direectly reflects the desinfoEND primary educational methodology: Dialogic Learning. This methodology is anchored in seven fundamental principles, including egalitarian dialogue, transformative processes, and the creation of meaning through participation. By integrating these principles, the NCCs facilitate dialogue, instrumental learning, and the equitable sharing of knowledge among participants, volunteers and staff. In essence, NCCs serve as platforms for collaboration, dialogue, and collective decision-making, ensuring that the project remains responsive to the diverse needs and perspectives of its stakeholders.

The National NCCs

The Spanish NCC was composed by a diverse and committed group of members, each bringing valuable perspectives and experiences to the project. Among the volunteers who joined the NCC were individuals over 55 years old, as well as one younger participant, all of whom were unemployed and have a low educational level. Participants of the pilot course were also members of the NCC. They were +55 years old, unemployed, or retired, and with low educational level. Their involvement not only ensured the representation of the population’s demographic diversity but also provided insights and perspectives rooted in their unique life experiences. Finally, a technician from Agora was also a member of the NCC, providing valuable expertise and guidance, ensuring allignment with project objectives and facilitating communication between the Committee.

The Spanish National Coordination Committee (NCC) was created as a platform to ensure active participation and representation from diverse backgrounds. Prior to the implementation of the pilot course, a technical representative, in collaboration with interested volunteers, promoted the course at the La Verneda-Sant Martí Adult School managed by Agora. Participants keen on attending the course to combat misinformation were invited to an initial committee meeting. During this meeting, schedules, objectives, content, and methodologies for the course were discussed and agreed upon. Participants reactions to being part of the NCC were overwhelmingly positive. Volunteers and participants appreciated the opportunity to contribute to the project’s development and shape its direction. The NCC meetings served as forums for open dialogue, collaboration, and constructive feedback. Key findings of the NCC meetings included the importance of incorporating concrete examples from the pilot course into the Curriculum. Additionally, participants emphasized the significance of including personal experiences through videos in the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to aid educators.

The most important part of the process was the collaborative nature of the NCC meetings. These sessions facilitated meaningful discussions, enabled the evaluation of project outcomes, and ensured alignment with project objectives. Each meeting played a crucial role in refining the project’s methodologies, curriculum, and online resources based on valuable input from committee members. In summary, the experience with the NCC was characterized by active engagement, collaborative decision-making, and a shared commitment to combatting disinformation. The committee’s contributions were instrumental in shaping the project’s approach and results, ensuring its relevance and effectiveness in addressing the challenges of disinformation in diverse communities.

The Romanian NCC has been created immediately after the start of the project. It is composed of 7 persons, gathering a variety of social, professional, cultural and age backgrounds and profiles, making thus their participation relevant and contributory to the project. Our NCC consists of 3 women and 4 men, with ages between 40 and 73 years. On person (women) belongs to the target group, being unemployed, adult, 55+; two members are AE trainers (one woman, one man), of which one is retired; one is education specialist (man); two members (one woman, one man) are staff of GIE and also members of the project team; one is volunteer (man) with background also in the educational field.

GIE created the NCC by considering the project needs and the activities where the NCC will offer the support. The focus was that beside GIE’s staff to have included people with experience in education and Adult Education, trainers, volunteers and representatives from the target group. Such a mix was most appropriate to ensure successful implementation of the activities and the achievement of DesinfoEND quality standards. After having defined the NCC structure, we identified persons, contacted them and presented the project and their tasks along its lifetime. We were happy to get positive answers from all those contacted, and noticed their interest regarding the topics, excitement for the activities ahead and for being part of the NCC. We decided to have meetings on any major phase and result of the project, to analyze steps and approaches, but also contents and quality of the final DesinfoEND outcomes. We had 6 meetings to: evaluate the proposed IGs and DGs; start preparing the pilot training; finalize objective, agenda, structure of the piloting in Romania; assess the final contents for the piloting; assess educational materials for the MOOC; organize GIE’s participation at the Final Conference in Brussels and prepare draft plan for piloting the MOOC; assess the Toolkit and MOOC.

The National Coordination Committees (NCC) play a pivotal role in the oversight and evaluation of every activity and output within our project. Serving as key agents for project monitoring, the NCCs ensure the active participation of the target group in organizational and decision-making spaces. The NCCs also The NCCs also serves as a testing ground for the pilot course, where participants contribute invaluable insights to evaluate and enhance the effectiveness of the Toolkit. The NCCs stand as a testament to our commitment to transparency, accountability, and community engagement, ensuring that the voices and needs of our target audience remain central to the project’s evolution and success.

What was the reason for adopting the practice of the NCCs?

Firstly, they ensure the active participation of individuals from diverse backgrounds, aligning with the project’s commitment to inclusive decision-making processes. It is paramount that those involved in the educational activities and targeted by them have a voice in shaping the project’s direction. Furthermore, the creation of NCCs direectly reflects the desinfoEND primary educational methodology: Dialogic Learning. This methodology is anchored in seven fundamental principles, including egalitarian dialogue, transformative processes, and the creation of meaning through participation. By integrating these principles, the NCCs facilitate dialogue, instrumental learning, and the equitable sharing of knowledge among participants, volunteers and staff. In essence, NCCs serve as platforms for collaboration, dialogue, and collective decision-making, ensuring that the project remains responsive to the diverse needs and perspectives of its stakeholders.

The National NCCs

The Spanish NCC was composed by a diverse and committed group of members, each bringing valuable perspectives and experiences to the project. Among the volunteers who joined the NCC were individuals over 55 years old, as well as one younger participant, all of whom were unemployed and have a low educational level. Participants of the pilot course were also members of the NCC. They were +55 years old, unemployed, or retired, and with low educational level. Their involvement not only ensured the representation of the population’s demographic diversity but also provided insights and perspectives rooted in their unique life experiences. Finally, a technician from Agora was also a member of the NCC, providing valuable expertise and guidance, ensuring allignment with project objectives and facilitating communication between the Committee.

The Spanish National Coordination Committee (NCC) was created as a platform to ensure active participation and representation from diverse backgrounds. Prior to the implementation of the pilot course, a technical representative, in collaboration with interested volunteers, promoted the course at the La Verneda-Sant Martí Adult School managed by Agora. Participants keen on attending the course to combat misinformation were invited to an initial committee meeting. During this meeting, schedules, objectives, content, and methodologies for the course were discussed and agreed upon. Participants reactions to being part of the NCC were overwhelmingly positive. Volunteers and participants appreciated the opportunity to contribute to the project’s development and shape its direction. The NCC meetings served as forums for open dialogue, collaboration, and constructive feedback. Key findings of the NCC meetings included the importance of incorporating concrete examples from the pilot course into the Curriculum. Additionally, participants emphasized the significance of including personal experiences through videos in the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to aid educators.

The most important part of the process was the collaborative nature of the NCC meetings. These sessions facilitated meaningful discussions, enabled the evaluation of project outcomes, and ensured alignment with project objectives. Each meeting played a crucial role in refining the project’s methodologies, curriculum, and online resources based on valuable input from committee members. In summary, the experience with the NCC was characterized by active engagement, collaborative decision-making, and a shared commitment to combatting disinformation. The committee’s contributions were instrumental in shaping the project’s approach and results, ensuring its relevance and effectiveness in addressing the challenges of disinformation in diverse communities.

The Romanian NCC has been created immediately after the start of the project. It is composed of 7 persons, gathering a variety of social, professional, cultural and age backgrounds and profiles, making thus their participation relevant and contributory to the project. Our NCC consists of 3 women and 4 men, with ages between 40 and 73 years. On person (women) belongs to the target group, being unemployed, adult, 55+; two members are AE trainers (one woman, one man), of which one is retired; one is education specialist (man); two members (one woman, one man) are staff of GIE and also members of the project team; one is volunteer (man) with background also in the educational field.

GIE created the NCC by considering the project needs and the activities where the NCC will offer the support. The focus was that beside GIE’s staff to have included people with experience in education and Adult Education, trainers, volunteers and representatives from the target group. Such a mix was most appropriate to ensure successful implementation of the activities and the achievement of DesinfoEND quality standards. After having defined the NCC structure, we identified persons, contacted them and presented the project and their tasks along its lifetime. We were happy to get positive answers from all those contacted, and noticed their interest regarding the topics, excitement for the activities ahead and for being part of the NCC. We decided to have meetings on any major phase and result of the project, to analyze steps and approaches, but also contents and quality of the final DesinfoEND outcomes. We had 6 meetings to: evaluate the proposed IGs and DGs; start preparing the pilot training; finalize objective, agenda, structure of the piloting in Romania; assess the final contents for the piloting; assess educational materials for the MOOC; organize GIE’s participation at the Final Conference in Brussels and prepare draft plan for piloting the MOOC; assess the Toolkit and MOOC.

The Italian NCC has been created slightly after the start of the project’s activities. It is composed by 1 FVM staff member, 2 volunteers and 1 unemployed person, 3 female and 1 male. NCC participants were key agents for the monitoring of the project at local level, as they ensured the participation of the target group in the organization and decision-making process. More, they ensured that dicisions were made in accordance to real needs of the audience and that the quality of the results, as well as the adaptation of materials to our local context was matching the expectations. They met 5 times during key moments of the project’s development to plan, make decision and evaluate activities and results.

FVM created the NCC firstly tasting the ground among our volunteers and traineers that usually collaborate with Villa Montesca at the very beginning of the project, reaching them through email and/or phone calls. After this pahse, three people were informally enrolled (2F; 1M) in the Italian NCC due to their committment and their availability in term of time – we preferred volunteers that ensure to us their availability for the entire desinfoEND’s duration. The five meetings of the Italian NCC were hold on February, May, July and October 2023 and the last onewas in January, 2024. They gave feedback on the curriculum and methodology at every step of their implementation, icluded the validation of the final version; contributed informally to the involvement of target group in the developmkent of the activities; contributed to the development of the evaluation tools used prioor and after the piloting experience, the delivery of the tools to participants and the analysis of the given responses; contributed to the review of the materials used durting the Dialogic Gatherings; contributed to the testing of the MOOC and the translation of the MOOC contents in Italian; proposed national adatptations to better fit with our learning environment. Finally, one of our NCC member was delighted to attend the desinfoEND final conference on 29th November 2023 in Brussels.