For more than two decades, I have immersed myself in an idea that is as professional as it is deeply personal. It reflects a passion that fully aligns with how I approach every empowerment focused project I undertake. I have always treated such work not merely as an opportunity, but as a privilege, a moment in which circumstance places you in a position of responsibility, and therefore obliges you to act positively, in a way that is consistent with your professional role and with what you truly believe. At the core of that belief lies a simple principle: everyone has the right to empowerment, to have their voices heard, and to articulate their dreams, hopes, and expectations toward different decision making institutions.

Perhaps this conviction was one of the main drivers behind the insistence on distributing opportunities across governorates, rather than confining media empowerment projects to the capital, Amman, or limiting them to specific social groups. From this perspective, the concept of media literacy never felt foreign. In one way or another, it is what we have been practicing for years.

Today, media literacy is no longer a cognitive luxury or a purely technical skill. It has become a fundamental condition for individual and collective empowerment, and a critical tool for achieving sustainable development and generating social impact.

This is particularly evident in community media initiatives, in programs aimed at empowering women and youth, and in work with marginalized groups and refugees. Investing in media literacy is, in essence, a direct investment in human beings, in their ability to influence their surroundings, raise community awareness, and ensure that all voices are heard on an equal footing.

Against the backdrop of rapid global transformations in the media and digital landscape, accompanied by an unprecedented flow of misinformation, disinformation, and exclusionary or hate driven narratives, media and information literacy has emerged as an indispensable strategic entry point. It strengthens collective awareness, safeguards the public sphere, and enables individuals to engage with information and media in a conscious and responsible manner.

Practical experience has shown that media literacy is not an abstract concept. It is a daily practice built through training, content production, the management of development oriented media projects, and the creation of safe spaces for expression and accountability.

Field experiences, whether in training media professionals or enabling local communities to tell their own stories, have demonstrated that critical thinking skills, fact checking, and a deep understanding of the media environment, all core components of media literacy, form the cornerstone of genuine empowerment. These skills directly contribute to bridging knowledge and digital gaps, enhancing civic participation, and supporting development pathways.

Media literacy therefore goes far beyond the ability to consume or follow media content. It is reflected in understanding how media messages are produced and who stands behind them, analyzing media discourse and linking it to its political and social context, distinguishing between information, opinion, and manipulation, and using media as a space for expression, accountability, and advocacy for just societal causes.

Possessing these skills leads to a qualitative shift in the individual’s role, from a passive recipient to an active agent.

In practice, media literacy has proven its capacity to enable women to reclaim their voices inside and outside media institutions, to equip young people with the tools to critically assess dominant narratives and create alternative ones, to allow marginalized groups to represent their own issues rather than being spoken for, and to strengthen self confidence and the ability to participate in public life.

Within media empowerment projects, training in critical thinking and ethical media production, two defining features of media literacy, serves as a pathway to building a new generation of media leaders, not merely as a form of technical or vocational training.

At the same time, media literacy intersects directly with the Sustainable Development Goals. It supports quality education by strengthening analytical and thinking skills, promotes gender equality through fair and gender sensitive media, reduces inequalities by opening platforms to marginalized voices, and advances peace and justice by confronting hate speech and misinformation.

Experience in community media has consistently shown that development cannot be achieved without a conscious and responsible media sector, one that is capable of holding policies to account, proposing alternatives, and connecting people to their everyday concerns. This approach aligns with what is known as solutions journalism, where media does not stop at highlighting problems and challenges, but also presents context appropriate visions for solutions. This must go hand in hand with a societal understanding of the importance of media, as well as its strict legal and ethical frameworks.

This is why the impact of media literacy becomes evident in linking media messages to community needs, using human centered stories supported by data, designing cumulative rather than seasonal media campaigns, and measuring change in awareness, behavior, and public policy.

Over years of practice, it has become clear that media grounded in literacy can challenge stereotypes, influence public policies, create alternative spaces for dialogue, and support peaceful social movements, including party and trade union work and positive political participation more broadly.

Despite the strong optimism surrounding this approach, it is impossible to ignore the real challenges facing the practical and effective mainstreaming of media literacy. These include the rapid evolution of digital disinformation tools and the need for continuous training and financial resources to keep pace, the weak integration of media literacy into formal education, where the concept exists in curricula but is not taught professionally due to insufficient teacher training, and the gap between training and actual practice within institutions. This gap underscores the need for hands on training for spokespersons, public relations staff, media departments, and others.

Equally significant are the political and economic pressures facing independent media. Here, community media and sustainable training initiatives play a crucial role as spaces for dialogue, transparency, identifying gaps and mistakes, and proposing alternatives and solutions.

From lived experience, it can be said that media literacy constitutes an invisible infrastructure for development. It does not merely produce better journalists, but more aware citizens and communities that are better equipped to defend their rights and create meaningful impact. For this reason, investing in media literacy should be recognized as a long term investment in justice, participation, and sustainability, and above all, in building trust among members of society on one hand, and between citizens and decision makers on the other. And that, in my view, is what matters most.