Agencia de Gobierno Electrónico y Sociedad de la Información y del Conocimiento

32 – Strengthening the community broadcasting sector

Brief description of the commitment: The commitment consists of designing and implementing a roadmap to strengthen community broadcasting through a participatory approach. It seeks to contribute to the objectives of promoting diversity, pluralism, and equal opportunities in Audiovisual Communication Services, involving various actors in the community sector in the development and monitoring of this public policy.

Organization leading the commitment: Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining (MIEM), National Directorate of Telecommunications and Audiovisual Communication Services (Dinatel).

Political representative: Pablo Siris, National Director of Telecommunications and Audiovisual Communication Services. Contact: secretaria.dinatel@miem.gub.uy.

Technical Manager: Marcos Liberman (Head), Marcelo Sosa (Alternate). Management Advisors. Contact: radiodifusion@miem.gub.uy.

Actors:

1. Government: Regulatory Unit for Communications Services (URSEC), Ministry of Culture and Education (MEC) and Ministry of Social Development (MIDES).

2. Civil Society: Community Broadcasting Associations, groups of people and other interested civil associations, community and trade radio networks

3. Other actors: University of the Republic (UdelaR), Faculty of Information and Communication (FIC), UNESCO, actors from various areas of the community communication sector, civil society and organizations linked to human rights and democratization of communication.

Implementation period: September 2025 - March 2029.

Problem definition

What problem does the commitment intend to address?

The need to strengthen community broadcasting as a key tool for local communication and citizen participation, create specific public policies and institutional support based on an adequate identification of needs and challenges and mechanisms for transparency and monitoring.

What are the causes of the problem?

Lack of an articulated and participatory public policy in the sector; insufficient recognition and institutional support for community broadcasting; scarce systematization of information and data on the sector; limited access to accountability mechanisms and citizen participation in its development.

Description of the commitment

What has been done so far to solve the problem?

Isolated efforts have been made by various institutions to support community broadcasting, but without having an integrated roadmap or a sustained participatory approach. Today, there is no consolidated national strategy with this approach.

What solution does it propose?

To develop and implement a roadmap, created collaboratively with actors from the community sector and interested citizens, that includes diagnosis, formulation, execution, monitoring, and evaluation. This will incorporate consultation tools, regular participation mechanisms, and open data. It will also include the creation of a specific budget line for community radio stations within the framework of this commitment.

What are the Expected resultss regarding the implementation of this commitment?

A public and agreed roadmap for strengthening community broadcasting that enables a greater institutional and intersectoral coordination, improved transparency and accountability, greater participation of community actors in public policies of the sector, public visibility of indicators and progress, and an open channel for regular participation.

Commitment analysis

How will the commitment promote transparency?

In line with the details outlined in the item below, public access will be provided to all information generated during the design, implementation, and evaluation of the roadmap, facilitating access to information on public matters and decisions arising therefrom. Furthermore, a course of action will be promoted to monitor the evolution and operation of the sector, making this information publicly available in open data format on a periodic basis to be defined, in order to facilitate subsequent analysis and evaluation by actors.

How will the commitment help foster accountability?

Citizens and actors will be given the opportunity to monitor and track the public management of the sector's policy within the framework of the roadmap. This will be achieved through the publication of the proposed roadmap, which will guide the work of actors, along with an agreed-upon and implemented mechanism to ensure transparency and accountability for the actions taken.

How will the commitment improve citizen participation in defining, implementing, and monitoring solutions?

Citizen participation is an intrinsic part of the development of this proposal. It is considered from the design of the roadmap with the actors involved and other actors in the sector, through the implementation and monitoring process, enabling a channel for participation in monitoring the execution and planned exchanges, and allowing for the reception of opportunities for improvement and continuity, as well as accountability.

Furthermore, it is expected that, allowing public access and monitoring of the issues addressed during the implementation of the roadmap, will contribute to the identification of interests and proposals related to community broadcasting that may be brought forward by other interested actors to be considered by the public institutions with competence in the area.

Commitment planning