MEDIA LITERACY AND HEALTH EDUCATION: EMPOWERING TEACHERS IN THE REPUBLIC OF MOZAMBIQUE

Currently, the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Mozambique (MISAU) is developing a Project to strengthen the technical and pedagogical skills of health teachers at the training institute (FORSA-MZ), supported by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The aim of this project is to prepare teachers for a decentralization process. In this context, Media Literacy is recognized as an essential area to promote the critical view of citizens to be able to contribute to the assessment of a democratic society. In this society, citizens should be able to access the mass media critically and to express themselves via this media, as producers. In this context, an educational program was designed to support the teachers' improvement of skills in using different media in the classrooms in the Republic of Mozambique. This program was developed in 15 different health training institutes by JICA and MISAU. Data were collected for the analysis of pre and post questionnaires, interviews and the materials produced during the courses (comics, photonovels, videos, for example). The results showed that the decentralization of pedagogical tool production and teachers' empowerment were an important achievement of this educational program, and the media literacy is supporting them to develop their autonomy.