The fourth stage of the project “Investments in a safer future”, jointly organized by New Strategy Center, West University of Timisoara and the ”Nicolae Bălcescu” Land Forces Academy had reached a successful end on the 11th of December in Timisoara.
The project had been selected by NATO Public Diplomacy Division, as a result of the “Increasing Societal Resilience: Innovative Ways to Counter Disinformation and Hostile Information Activities” call, through which cadets from Land Forces Academy of Sibiu had the opportunity to explain and clarify general NATO concepts to students from various faculties of the West University of Timisoara.
The project took place in a non-formal environment and it consisted of many activities aimed to increase young people’s resilience towards disinformation campaigns. The activities also included knowledge evaluation of the NATO activities and the vulnerabilities disinformation campaigns can produce, campaigns with the final objective to undermine the trust in NATO’s cohesion and democratic values.
On 11th of December, the fourth phase of the project went down, as young cadets from the “Nicolae Bălcescu” Land Forces Academy held a training for the students from the West University of Timisoara. During the first and the second phases of the project, questionnaires had been applied to the target group which was later deepened by a focus-group where the subjects were expanded. In the third phase of the project, the cadets from Land Forces Academy were trained to facilitate general and useful knowledge to their colleagues from Timisoara.
With a training curriculum strategy developed based on the identified needs during the initial phases of the project, the Land Forces Academy’s cadets and the students from Timisoara collectively learned instruments to combat disinformation and fake news. The knowledge exchange took place in a non formal environment which contained not only the theoretical component, but also engaged interactive exercises.
During the four stages of the project, the youngsters approached key-concepts regarding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, its values and its principles, as well as its high level used concepts in the alliance. The interactive exercises aimed to develop responsible behaviors within the young generation with the approach of practical examples of disinformation or hostile propaganda. The debate also facilitated diverse instruments to combat these aspects.
The students benefited from presentations and exercises regarding NATO’s history and the way its values are reflected in the Alliance’s actions. Furthermore, the workshop had fundamentally contributed to students’ familiarization with information regarding Romania’s role in NATO and our contribution to the Alliance’s objectives, as well as the basic principals with reference to budget and the Romanian military missions.
Moreover, both civilian and military students benefited from exercises that helped them gain more knowledge about identifying and counteracting misinformation, through practical exercises. The students were also encouraged to apply critical methods of analyzing information in order to identify and counter propaganda, fake news and manipulation of information. Bringing the concepts of theory to practice, the practical workshop organized within the project aimed to contribute to the development of the critical apparatus of the students, thus consolidating their resilience in the face of hostile narratives in the mass-media and social media.
The event benefited from the intervention of Major General Iulian Berdilă, Chief of the Land Forces:
“Today, at the West University of Timișoara, a project is underway that aims at investing in a safer future and increasing the resilience of young people to disinformation campaigns. We, from the Land Forces of the Romanian Army, have always said “yes” to such initiatives. We also involve students from the Land Forces Academy, a resource of the present and the future, in this project. We enjoy this dialogue between civilian and military students, as they can help strengthen a culture of security that promotes democratic values and trust in NATO, as well as the spirit of solidarity and cooperation that characterizes the North Atlantic Alliance.”
It is a unique project that brings together young people from both civil and military universities, in order to build real and effective bridges of communication, meant to help counter false information campaigns, said Ileana Rotaru, professor at the Faculty of Political Science, Philosophy and Communication Sciences, West University of Timișoara.
Izel Selim, Program Director of the New Strategy Center, mentioned that young people will be able to identify and learn a number of useful tools in their daily life and professional activity. Based on the results of these training sessions, we aim to build a best-practice guide that could be used by other NATO states.
Through this project, New Strategy Center, the West University of Timișoara and the “Nicolae Bălcescu” Land Forces Academy in Sibiu want to contribute to the training of future civil and military leaders by disseminating information on NATO’s contribution to Romania’s security and the entire Eastern Flank, as the investments in the field of defense are, in fact, investments in a more secure future, which will ensure prosperity and security for our region, underlined Izabela Dragomir, professor at the Land Forces Academy.
We mention that the activities carried out proceeded in complete safety for all participants, as the organizers took measures such as mandatory wearing of masks, social distancing, access only to vaccinated persons, as well as rapid testing of all participants.
