Fundación Maldita.es participates as coordinator in the European project POP – Promoting Opportunities to Propel European Media Literacy Education Among Rural Communities and Older Adults, funded by the Creative Europe programme.
POP aims to strengthen resilience against disinformation in European rural communities, especially among people over 50, by improving their access to innovative and tailored media literacy resources. The project will run for 24 months and will be implemented in Spain, Germany, Italy and Croatia.
The project was created in response to the vulnerability of rural communities and older adults to disinformation, digital scams and AI-generated content. It will develop and implement a “Media Literacy Pop-Ups” model, consisting of travelling events to be held in 20 rural municipalities (five per country). Each Pop-Up will include:
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An Information Point with visual and accessible educational materials.
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Participatory and interactive activities designed to explain key concepts such as critical thinking, verification and disinformation detection in an accessible way.
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Training of Trainers (ToT) workshops and materials aimed at local professionals.
In addition, a POP Toolkit and an implementation guide will be developed in digital and downloadable formats, enabling the model to be replicated in other European territories. After the pilot phase, a transnational communication campaign will be launched to amplify the project’s impact and disseminate the materials created.
Who is involved in the project?
The consortium is made up of six European organisations:
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Fundación Maldita.es (Spain) – Project coordinator. An organisation that protects the integrity of information and promotes public trust through journalism, education, technology, research and public policy advocacy.
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Correctiv (Germany) – An investigative and fact-checking media outlet with extensive experience in media literacy.
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The Fact-Checking Factory ( (Italy) – An organisation specialised in fact-checking and media education.
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Faktograf (Croacia) – A fact-checking and media education organisation.
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Fundación HelpAge International España (Spain) – An organisation specialising in the rights and participation of older people.
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Prodigioso Volcán (Spain) – A consultancy specialised in strategic communication and narrative innovation.
What will Fundación Maldita.es do?
As coordinating entity, Fundación Maldita.es will be responsible for the overall management and coordination of the consortium, ensuring the technical, financial and strategic implementation of the project throughout its 24-month duration. It will also lead the design of the methodological framework for the Media Literacy Pop-Ups and contribute to the development of the educational materials and the POP Toolkit, which will allow the initiative to be replicated in other European territories.
Maldita.es will implement the project activities in Spain, working especially with rural communities and people over 50, and will coordinate the European communication and visibility strategy to maximise the project’s impact and dissemination of results. POP builds on Maldita.es’ previous experience with the BuloBus project, which delivered media literacy workshops in rural municipalities across Spain.
How much funding will Fundación Maldita.es receive?
POP is a project co-funded by the European Union under the Creative Europe Programme (Call CREA-CROSS-2025-MEDIALITERACY). The total project budget amounts to €713,174.26, with total EU funding of €499,221.99 (70% of the total budget).
The total budget allocated to Fundación Maldita.es within the project is €158,985.95, of which the EU will contribute €111,290.17 (70%).
The views and opinions expressed in this note are those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union.