FREE/DEM stands for FREEDOM and DEMOCRACY. What began as an initiative to bring issues around active citizenship and an understanding of democratic values and practices to grassroots communities through community radio has now expanded to become a larger effort to teach media and information literacy to marginalized communities.
The initiative is now active with communities across *Delhi, Rajasthan, UP and Bihar* - and includes capacity building on *media skills *(making audio and video content); *digital literacy* (using mobile phones; accessing information over the internet), and *fact-checking and verification* (including skills to stop the spread of fake news and misinformation). Community members participate in a series of training workshops organized within the community (and supported by local screenings and events) over a period of several months, where they are trained in these skills, and encouraged to become media creators rather than be passive consumers of information created elsewhere.
The Delhi communities, based in migrant populations around Badarpur border, now runs its own *WhatsApp 'channel' *by creating audio and video content on information the community wants to share and ideas the community would like to discuss. They have successfully used this mechanism for advocacy with their local ward councillor, as well as their MLA, to address several issues around drainage, sanitation and access to entitlements.
You can see some of the content they create at www.freedem.in
