Brussels, 16 February 2018 - The NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s Working Group on Education and Communication about NATO will meet with NATO communications experts next week to discuss common strategies to reach out to younger generations.
Opinion polls show that young people in most NATO countries have limited knowledge of NATO and often take peace and security for granted. In an era when security is volatile and “fake news” can spread far and fast NATO also increasingly finds itself the subject of disinformation campaigns by state and non-state actors alike.
The NATO PA’s Working Group on Education and Communication about NATO established at the initiative of NATO PA President Paolo Alli, aims to contribute to the improvement of public awareness about NATO, particularly through education. Created in 2017 and chaired by former Assembly President Prof. Dr. Karl A. Lamers (Germany), the Group brings together one legislator from each of the 29 Member delegations to the NATO PA. The Group’s first goal is to examine how schools in NATO member countries teach pupils about global security issues, and about NATO in particular. The Working Group is also surveying the level of information about NATO in member states, existing national activities and best practices initiatives on NATO education.
Over two days, NATO PA legislators will meet with NATO experts to learn about NATO’s communication activities, particularly towards the younger generation, and discuss opportunities for closer cooperation with NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division, and with the Atlantic Treaty Association network. Participants will also compare and evaluate best practices of governmental and civil society projects that reached out successfully to those parts of the population that had limited knowledge of NATO.
