After three years of collaborative research and engagement, the ‘Resisting Information Disorders in the Global South’ project has culminated in the publication of the report ‘Information Disorder and Resilience in the Global South: Structural Drivers, Governance, Media Literacy, and Fact-Checking.’
The report draws on evidence from across the Global South to examine the structural drivers of information disorder and assess regulatory and societal responses in Africa, the MENA region, South-East Asia, and Latin America. It brings together contributions from LIRNEasia, InternetLab, the Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism, and the ARIJ Network. The project was led by the Centre for Information Integrity in Africa (CINIA) at Stellenbosch University and funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).
The report identifies root causes of information disorder, maps response strategies, and evaluates their effectiveness, drawing on locally grounded evidence across governance and platform regulation, media and information literacy, and fact-checking ecosystems.
LIRNEasia contributed Chapter 4, ‘Empowering Children Against Misinformation: A Review of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Interventions in Sri Lanka’, authored by Isuru Samaratunga, Research Manager at LIRNEasia, and Helani Galpaya, CEO of LIRNEasia.
The chapter examines how Media and Information Literacy (MIL) programmes can strengthen children’s ability to recognise and resist misinformation. It uses a MIL initiative by Sarvodaya-Fusion as a case study, focusing on how it equipped children with the skills to navigate the digital environment safely, ethically, and responsibly. The year-long data collection followed children across three districts in Sri Lanka, tracking not only what they learned from the programme, but also what they retained and applied months later.
“Educators are pushing for media and information literacy (MIL) programs. Such interventions can often be rapidly tailored to local contexts and involve those directly affected by “fake news.”
Findings show that MIL interventions have a clear, positive impact on children’s digital lives. They improve awareness, strengthen critical and technical skills, and encourage responsible online behaviour. Children also emerge as knowledge multipliers within their communities. The study further suggests that even short, well-designed interventions can produce meaningful shifts in attitudes, skills, and practices—particularly when reinforced through interactive learning and peer engagement. To deepen this impact, future efforts could include follow-up sessions, targeted content for caregivers, and context-specific support to address trust-based vulnerabilities.
This report was originally published by the Centre for Information Integrity in Africa at Stellenbosch University on 28 April 2026.
For a more comprehensive understanding of this work, readers are encouraged to refer to the full chapter (pp. 73–98).
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