Ciudadanía Informada: Citizens’ Participation - Ecuador

The organisation ‘Participación Ciudadana’ aims at involving the Ecuadorian society in processes of social transformation. For this process to occur it is vital that citizens are informed properly and impartially. Participación Ciudadana implements a project called ‘Ciudadanía Informada’ on publishing an electronic newspaper with a national ambition but produced by regional new agencies in the provinces of Azuay, Guayas, Imbabura and Manabí in order to counterbalance the centralistic, urban bias in Ecuadorian journalism.

The newspaper is published online (www.ciudadaniainformada.com) and focuses on the following main domains: politics, jurisdiction, legislation, elections, citizenry, and Latin America. To complement the information provided, the public is invited to actively participate by writing articles and blogs, sending in videos, taking part in debates and online quizzes. The project also actively uses other Web 2.0 and social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter to keep citizens informed and involve them in debates.

The adoption of a new constitution and a second term for President Correa in 2008 and 2009 have created new ways of democratization and more attention for ICT, but also more critisism on the press. More than ever there seems to be a need for independent spaces where citizens can communicate and share information. That said, 2009 and 2010 have been years in which independent media have a difficult time, due to a hardening political climate and less space for (open) critisism.

The Ciudadanía Informada e-journal project fully meets its goals. In September 2008 alone, over 90,000 people visited the web site. Some 70% of these are first-time visitors, reaching Ciudadanía Informada through search engines. Also, the various news items generate a fair amount of end-user response: there were almost 1,800 comments between March and October 2008. The 4 regional offices now all have their own sub-portal on Ciudadanía Informada, thus making the news accessible by region.

Participación Ciudadana (PC) has organised 6 online forums in which many people participated. The forums combine streaming live debates between experts and stakeholders on a certain issue (usually about the impact of certain government policies) and chats with the readers and viewers. This generates much debate, both during and after the event.

Further, the project team and the responsible person for fund raising have been focussing on sustainability of the project. PC participated in the Compu2010 fair in Guayaquil (free of charge).

Objectives for the second phase:

1. Consolidate and strengthen the electronic newsletter Ciudadanía Informada, both at their headquarter in Quito as well as in the 4 provinces where they are working. This will be done by using the internet and web 2.0 tools to give information on political, legislative, electoral, citizenry, diaspora and Latin American matters and by developing capacities of users so they can use these tools and take part in the democratic debate.
2. Develop ways for the electronic newsletter to become more economically sustainable, by selling advertising space and by seeking support from additional donors.

• Increased access to information about political, juridical, legislative, electoral, citizenry, and Latin American matters through a decentralised information system making use of regional correspondents.
• The number of visitors on the website keeps increasing to about 20.000 unique visitors each month
• More importantly: there is also an increase in participation of people on the website, sending in ideas and suggestions, debating online in blogs and following the newsletter via Facebook and Twitter.
• Over the last 2 years, the project collected over 350 evaluation questionnaires filled in by users of the newsletter. They commented on the way they used the newsletter, what kind of information they (dis)liked and how they used the information in their daily lives:
• 80% of users claims that they achieved their goals by visiting the site. Goals they indicated were for instance: the seach for independant and imparcial information and because of the variety and relevance of the information.
• 74% of users visits the site on a weekly basis or more often
• 59% of users claims to have become more aware of the importance of ICTs for Goverenance and to feel more responsible for good governance.
• 62% claims that the newsletter gives them better and more information then before and 51% has become more active in their institution or community as a result.
• 58% of users of the site claims that the site has accomplished that more people are now capable of having their voices heard.

Evaluation questionnaires have been filled out by users of the project. They indicated as points of improvement: more frequent updating and more participation in the site. The first issue has been tackled during the end of the first phase, by making better appointments with the local correspondents and by having the first news online very early in the morning (before people start checking). The second issue ia taken on during the second phase.

Major challenges for the project are sustainability (and the challenge of getting funding from other sources while maintaining its editorial independence) and participation of citizens (openness for everybody versus quality of information).

The organisation ‘Participación Ciudadana’ aims at involving the Ecuadorian society in processes of social transformation. For this process to occur it is vital that citizens are informed properly and impartially. Participación Ciudadana implements a project called ‘Ciudadanía Informada’ on publishing an electronic newspaper with a national ambition but produced by regional new agencies in the provinces of Azuay, Guayas, Imbabura and Orellana in order to counterbalance the centralistic, urban bias in Ecuadorian journalism.