From trainee to trainer: why we pass it on

On our last training day, everyone gathered for a group photo, certificates in hand. Someone joked that we were now "certified fact-checkers". The trainer's answer stuck with me: the certificate means nothing if the knowledge stays in this room.

Since then, many of us have run small sessions of our own, in schools, youth clubs, scout groups and, yes, at family dinners. I ran mine with the scouts in Bint Jbeil, using the yarn and spaghetti activities I'd learned.

What I learned running my own session

• Start with their phones, not with theory. Ask everyone to find the last thing they forwarded.
• Keep it practical: one tool, one exercise, one habit to take home.
• Let them teach each other. The best explanation I heard that day came from a fourteen-year-old.
• Expect the question "so who can we trust?" and have a real answer ready: sources you can check.

This week, UNESCO Beirut shared a short video about Narjes, one of the young people in the project, who now runs media and information literacy sessions in her own community. It sums up why this matters: what we learn is only useful once we pass it on.