PROJECT
Building capacities in the Internet ecosystem in Central America with a multisectoral perspective
OBJECTIVE
To advocate for the improvement of public digital rights policy by training stakeholders to strengthen projects and dialogues on pertinent issues.
CONTEXT
In Central America, there is a lack of participation and coordination in the development of public policies and laws related to technology. This translates into projects that enable the censorship, governmental or private, of speech and content on social networks and digital platforms, a problem which threatens citizens’ freedom of expression and access to information and which affects the fragile democracies of these countries. As such, it is relevant to advocate for the improvement of public policies on digital rights by training key actors to strengthen projects and dialogues that pertain to these issues.
More training was needed to advocate for stopping any legislation on technology that affected digital rights
Project achievements
Before this project, Central American governments rarely invested resources into defending the digital rights of citizens. IPANDETEC worked to generate public dialogue and train relevant actors within civil society, the government, the private sector and academia in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. In addition, they developed recommendations for improving laws and public policies in these countries.
How was this achieved?
• Trained representatives from civil society, the government, the private sector and academia in order to generate interest and proposals within participating countries surrounding public policy on technology with a human rights approach.
• Strengthened the network of actors, enabling the development of future projects with regional coordination.
• Achieved greater engagement from the government sector in discussions regarding laws and public policies on technology and human rights.
• Strengthened gender equality in discussions on digital laws and public policies; the vast majority of attendees, speakers and trainers were women.