Indela seeks to strengthen digital rights in Latin America
Today we announce the launch of the Initiative for Digital Rights in Latin America (Indela). Under the strategic leadership of Fundación Avina, Luminate and Open Society Foundations, with support from Ford Foundation and the International Development Research Center (IDRC), Indela is an initiative that will finance, train, and provide support to organizations promoting digital rights in Latin America. Between 2019 and 2021, Indela will make an initial fund of USD $1.5 million available to civil society.
As internet use permeates all of our activities, we are confronted with increasing challenges: misinformation in social networks; the deployment of invasive technologies for official surveillance; the indiscriminate collection of personal data by private platforms; “hacking”, and attacks on information systems and infrastructure.
This is especially important in Latin America, where institutional weaknesses are also reflected in the use of the internet and the adoption of technologies. In many of the region’s countries, the legacy of past authoritarian regimes lingers; others today find themselves under mandates where the freedom of expression and right to protest remain unclear; in yet others, regressive regulatory proposals — often shielded by narratives of national security and the fight against crime — are advanced in areas such as defamation, privacy, and copyright.
Indela’s goal is to understand local contexts and work from within their realities. It will strive to develop the digital rights sector via simple and unified open call and, with the support of local experts, ensure that the digital rights agenda incorporates local interests and concerns. The first open call starts today, February 27 through March 31, 2019, with a per project financing limit of USD $75,000. Click here to learn the requirements and present your project. Follow us on Twitter y Facebook.
The reality of the digital environment in Latin American countries – and the attainment of liberties and rights – is a constant process of dialogue and feedback with the same vision: to build more free and equitable societies.