What is Bee Smart?
In January 2023, Internet Matters, Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and researchers from the University of East Anglia kicked off a new media literacy programme aimed at care leavers – later named ‘Bee Smart’. This programme also found support from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
At the beginning of the project, a research day took place in Manchester with care leavers, Personal Advisors and Digital Inclusion Leads. Participants received a high-level overview of the pilot project and took part in discussions about how it could work, what kinds of online harms should be prioritised and what support they were looking for.
They identified the following harms as the most important for our programme to tackle:
- Cyberbullying and hate speech;
- Financial scams;
- Misinformation and disinformation.
The below report, compiled by the project’s independent evaluator, highlights the programme’s findings. It concludes with a number of reflections for future media literacy initiatives aimed for care leavers.
Medium 
