Factshala, a news and information literacy programme run by DataLEADS with support from the Google News Initiative.is collaborating with SMART to support the Community Radio stations to conduct media literacy awareness /training programmes in India to help new internet users in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. This drive targets people living in small towns and villages to improve critical thinking skills and navigate news online.

As our interaction through the internet and with the digital world is increasing on a daily basis. We consume a lot of information online: whether it is news or content that comes to us through various social media websites and other digital chat and video platforms.It is important that the internet users get information from the right sources. To ensure that, the collaboration will do the following–

The Identified radio stations will be conducting three Broadcasts in a month, under the supervision of SMART on:
- Information Literacy
- Misinformation for women (Gendered disinformation/ misinformation)
- Health literacy

The factshala program empowers people with key tools for identifying and combating misinformation and building resilience against misinformation for people across India – especially in states and regions with low literacy. FactShala helps internet users navigate the online information ecosystem with confidence and find their way to trustworthy news sources.

This initiative aims towards helping understand and analyse online information in a better manner. It will also equip the listeners with the necessary tools to recognise misinformation and access reliable sources of information.