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1. National strategy

2. Media literacy and online safety through formal education

3. Promoting media literacy and online safety through non-formal and informal learning

4. Raising awareness about the risks posed by new media

National strategy

North Macedonia does not yet have a single stand-alone national strategy exclusively for media literacy; instead, media and information literacy (MIL) is embedded across sectoral laws, regulator policy and partner programmes. The legal basis for regulator action is set out in the Law on Audio and Audiovisual Media Services (Article 26), which formally tasks the Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media Services (AVMU) with promoting media literacy and cooperating with relevant stakeholders. Building on that mandate, AVMU adopted a Media Literacy Policy in March 2019 and has since operationalised the policy through a combination of coordination, evidence-building and practical support for schools, teachers and civil society.

AVMU is the national focal point: it convenes and supports the Media Literacy Network (established in 2017), maintains the national MIL portal (mediumskapismenost.mk), publishes guidance and research, and organises national awareness activities such as Media Literacy Days. The Network brings together ministries (notably Education and Labour), state agencies (e.g., the Directorate for Personal Data Protection, the Film Agency), higher-education institutions, media outlets and civil-society organisations — currently several dozen members — and provides the forum for peer learning, resource development and coordinated campaigns. The portal is multilingual (Macedonian, Albanian and English) and accessible (visual accessibility options), serving as a shared repository for research, teacher resources, toolkits, videos and campaign materials.

Since 2023 AVMU and partners have moved intentionally from fragmented pilots to consolidation and scale. This phase prioritises three linked objectives: (1) evidence-based curriculum design (AVMU has commissioned regular studies of pupils’ MIL competencies to feed into teacher training and curriculum work); (2) capacity building (scaling regionally tested teacher-training modules and in-service programmes); and (3) classroom resources (standardised lesson plans, quick guides for spotting disinformation, and practical toolkits for civic education and digital skills classes). AVMU’s 2023 work programme explicitly committed to supporting the Media Literacy Network, running Media Literacy Days, mounting public awareness campaigns, and producing research on children’s competencies — activities that continued into 2024–25.

Civil society remains the engine of practical delivery and innovation: organisations such as the Metamorphosis Foundation, the Institute for Communication Studies, the School of Journalism and Public Relations, and a range of youth NGOs lead workshops, fact-checking labs, peer education and digital safety training. International partners — the EU, OSCE,  and other donors — have provided sustained funding and technical assistance, helping to professionalise interventions and to pilot new tools (including fact-checking platforms and teacher toolkits). AVMU’s earlier Memorandum with the OSCE and subsequent donor partnerships underpin much of this coordinated support.

 At the same time, the National Youth Strategy 2023–2027 explicitly embeds media and digital literacy goals in youth policy, calling for measures to strengthen young people’s ability to identify disinformation, to articulate civic interests, and to participate as informed digital citizens.

While progress is clear, challenges remain: MIL is not yet a mandatory, fully mainstreamed curriculum subject; teacher-training coverage is uneven; and measurement of outcomes needs regular, representative national data. The national policy trajectory for 2024–25 is therefore pragmatic and consolidation-oriented: turn tested pilots into repeatable classroom modules, certify and scale teacher training, embed MIL competencies into pre-service curriculum frameworks, and secure sustained funding lines so media literacy becomes part of routine school practice rather than a series of short-term projects. AVMU, the Ministry of Education and Science, teacher-training institutions, civil society and international partners are aligned around these objectives — a necessary coalition if MIL is to move from good practice pockets into a coherent national programme of learning and civic resilience.

Media literacy and online safety through formal education

Media-literacy content remains unevenly integrated into formal curricula. Elements of MIL appear chiefly within civic education and related subjects, and some teacher-training and pre-service modules include MIL competencies, but there is not yet a mandatory, nationwide MIL curriculum with guaranteed classroom hours and certified teacher training. This gap is a central challenge: pupils may encounter useful MIL lessons in some schools, while others receive little or no structured MIL instruction. 

To address this, multi-partner programmes now work directly with the Ministry of Education and Science and the Bureau for Development of Education to embed MIL into primary and secondary curricula and into pre-service teacher training. A prominent example is the USAID/IREX YouThink programme, which supports integration of MIL into schools and helps build teachers’ skills and ready-to-use classroom materials. AVMU’s 2024–25 research on first- and second-year secondary students is explicitly intended to inform curriculum design and teacher training priorities. These moves reflect a practical, evidence-driven approach: pilot and scale rather than adopt a single large reform without classroom testing.

Promoting media literacy and online safety through non-formal and informal learning

Civil society remains the engine of practical MIL delivery in North Macedonia. Prominent actors in this space include YouThink (USAID/IREX, with MIM, ICS, YEF), Metamorphosis Foundation, Institute for Communication Studies, Macedonian Institute for Media, School of Journalism and Public Relations, and various youth organisations. These groups collaborate on workshops, fact-checking labs, peer training, and resource production.

• Under YouThink, in 2022 nearly 2,800 primary school teachers across the country received training in critical information engagement through 113 workshops, and youth-led media clubs were established in schools

• The Dig-Ed TechCamp Ohrid in August 2024 hosted a capstone event “Countering Disinformation through Education,” where teachers presented six pilot projects—such as a mobile-learning game, AI literacy online courses, election-focused media clubs, and cybersecurity training—for grant funding. These included resources like “TruthTech: Media Literacy in the Age of AI” and “Media literacy for all” designed specifically for learners with special needs. 

Non-formal providers now produce ready-to-use materials and blended modules. For instance, Metamorphosis issued an "Info Pack – Media Literacy on Social Media" in 2024—teacher-friendly with lesson plans, supported by TechSoup Europe.

Many organisations pilot classroom modules in collaboration with municipal education offices. Effective pilots are being shared with AVMU and the Ministry and scaled regionally—a pragmatic “NGO innovation → ministry mainstreaming” model.

The scope of programmes has expanded beyond “fake news” detection to cover privacy and data literacy, countering algorithmic manipulation, platform biases, and AI threats like deepfakes. A peer-education model endures: trained youth “digital ambassadors” run campaigns, produce content, and lead local workshops.

Higher-education institutions now partner more closely: they conduct evaluations, track MIL competencies, and develop teacher-training curricula informed by field research. AVMU’s 2024 Research on Media Literacy among First and Second Year Secondary Students—commissioned with YouThink partners—provides foundational data to guide curriculum adjustments. 

Looking beyond national borders, NGO Info-centar hosted regional labs under the RYDE project addressing youth, media literacy, and digitalization: the second lab (Dec 2024, online) and third (May 2025, in Skopje) brought stakeholders from throughout the Western Balkans to co-develop policy recommendations, such as harmonizing curricula with EU directives and formalizing MIL in education law.

Moreover, the MedIA-Lit project (2025), led by the Centre for Civic Education with partners across Western Balkans, aims to enhance media literacy and democratic engagement among journalists and CSOs to combat hate speech and disinformation online.

Together, this vibrant civil society ecosystem provides practical, scalable, and locally relevant media-literacy programmes. Through innovation, cross-sector collaboration, and regional alignment, these non-formal efforts are paving the way for lasting media-literacy integration across North Macedonia’s educational and civic landscape.

Raising awareness about the risks posed by new media

Public awareness activities have expanded in scope and ambition. The national Media Literacy Days series (annual since 2019; continued 2023–24 with events on digital safety and AI) has become the flagship awareness vehicle, mobilising schools, civil society, media and institutions across the country. AVMU and partners also publish practical guides and run campaigns that target young people, parents and educators. 

Independent assessments underline why these efforts are urgent: North Macedonia ranked low in the 2023 Media Literacy Index, signalling vulnerability to disinformation and gaps in public MIL competencies. Fact-checking organisations and digital-rights NGOs have amplified corrective action by publishing investigations, running verification trainings and cooperating with platform actors to flag harmful content. At the same time, the rise of generative AI, platform algorithm changes and the increasing importance of social media as a news source have pushed MIL actors to update toolkits and teacher training to cover new forms of manipulation and deepfake.