Regional Project Media and Politics in South America (Medios y Política en América del Sur)

The regional project is engaged in two main activities:

Political: this consists of a series of meetings at the subregional and regional level set the framework for discussions about the political agenda related to the media (legislation, media marketing, regulation/supervision and access to information, freedom of expression, political communication, public agenda coverage, and protection of journalists and communicators).

Technical/capacity building: this component aims to contribute to capacity building and strengthening, with support from the UNDP’s Virtual School (Escuela Virtual (EV) )for Latin America and the Caribbean (EV-PNUD), in partnership with other specialised institutions.

Within this technical/capacity building component, the highest priority is given to young political actors in the handling of media related issues. ICT training tools are used as well as virtual and/or semi presential capacity building strategies, in partnership with UNDP's country offices and other institutions that represent or network with political movements and political parties in South America.

Media, Democracy and Governance.

"Media and Politics in South America" gives continuity to the debate about the media and politics and translates into concrete activities some aspects that were analysed and actions that were suggested in the Second Report about Democracy in Latin America called "Our Democracy" (UNDP-OAS (Organization of American States) 2010). This report suggests the following key action points: a) contribute to the debate and reflection about the role of the media, communication and information in democratic governance; b) reach a basic consensus between political leaders and decision makers and the media that allows a common formulation of a set of guiding principles on the relations between the states, governments, the media and society; and c) contribute to the improvement of politics and to the qualification of new political leaders and decision makers through capacity building courses about political communication targeted at young politicians and decision makers.