On Tuesday, November 3, the City of Dubrovnik will host the central global event of UNESCO’s Media and Information Literacy Cities (MIL Cities) initiative, with the University of Dubrovnik as its main partner.
The event is organized in cooperation with UNESCO and the Qatari city of Al Rayyan as part of Global Media and Information Literacy Week and World Cities Day.
On this occasion, the initiative to develop Dubrovnik as a media and information literacy city will be officially launched. Dubrovnik is one of the first pilot cities to apply the principles of this initiative and will develop its own model linking media and information literacy with cultural heritage, education and active citizenship. The City’s expert and educational partner in this effort is the University of Dubrovnik, whose Faculty of Media and Public Relations has been a member of the UNESCO Media and Information Literacy Alliance (MIL Alliance) since September 2025.
The program begins at 10 a.m. on Stradun, where games, discussions and interactive activities for citizens, students and visitors will take place until 2 p.m. Sixth-grade students will take part in an ‘Information Treasure Hunt,’ and at 11:30 a.m. the ‘Heritage Café’ will host a discussion on trust, reliable information and cultural heritage, with representatives of the University taking part.
The program continues on Wednesday, November 4, from 10:30 a.m. to noon at the University, where Alton Grizzle, UNESCO Program Specialist in Communication and Information, will give the public lecture ‘MIL Cities for Enlightened Citizens: A mass civic engagement renewing’ followed by a question-and-answer session. We invite students to take this opportunity to join the program and ask questions of one of the leading experts in the field.
The development of the initiative will be led by the newly established Dubrovnik MIL City Coordination Committee, which brings together 37 representatives of educational, cultural and heritage institutions, the media, the tourism sector, civil society organizations and other stakeholders. The Committee is chaired by Julijana Antić Brautović, Head of the City of Dubrovnik Administrative Department of Culture, with Romana John, PhD, Dean of the Faculty of Media and Public Relations, as Vice Chair.
‘Media and information literacy is a fundamental civic skill today, but it is not built in the classroom alone. The strength of this initiative lies precisely in bringing institutions, organizations and citizens together around a common goal. We are pleased that the University of Dubrovnik can contribute to this through the knowledge and work of our Faculty and students, so that Dubrovnik becomes a city where citizens, from the youngest to the oldest, approach information with more confidence and a more critical eye,’ said Dean Romana John, PhD.
The detailed event program can be downloaded below.
