Promoting Information Integrity in Elections

This consultation is now closed.
 

Read the Summary Report: Promoting Information Integrity in Elections.

You can now check out more on the UNDP's Oslo Governance Centre Information Integrity Portfolio here and about the Action Coalition on Information Integrity here

Thank you to all participants around the globe who shared their valuable knowledge and expertise in this SparkBlue ‘Promoting Information in Elections’ e-discussion hosted by UNDP Oslo Governance Centre and the Action Coalition on Information Integrity in Elections

We had contributions from across 25 countries, sharing learning and best practice from a range of electoral contexts. These have helped sharpen our thoughts and created “a pool of wisdom” that is now guiding the programmatic guidance paper on Information Integrity in Elections. This will be presented at multiple global forums, disseminated by the Action Coalition members and participating experts, and will be the first of its kind: A consensus-led guidance on addressing election disinformation in a technological age.

A special thank you to the fantastic discussion moderators from member organisations of the Action Coalition:  Ingrid Bicu Niamh Hanafin, Hedda Oftung, Anneliese Mcauliffe, Jiore Craig, Petra Alderman, Professor Nic Cheeseman, Vusumuzi Sifile,  Mirna Ghanem, Carolyne Wilhelm, Bianca Lapuz, Clara Raven, Gilbert Sendugwa.

Member organizations of the Action Coalition:

• UNDP  
• Africa Centre for Freedom of Information    
• Centre for Elections, Democracy, Accountability and Representation (CEDAR), Birmingham University   
• Institute for Strategic Dialogue    
• International IDEA   
• Samir Kassir Foundation   
• Panos Institute Southern Africa    
• Maharat Foundation  

Following the e-discussion, here are the next steps:

• In-Depth Consultations: We continue to consult with individual UNDP teams, other UN entities, partners, donors, and thematic experts to further sharpen the guidance paper on how the Action Coalition can best respond to enhance information integrity in elections
• Validate our findings:  We will be hosting a virtual event which will run through the findings of the guidance paper and ensure that the final paper is consensus-led guidance.
• Programmatic Guidance Paper: By the end of 2022, we will have a final programmatic guidance paper on addressing information integrity in elections.  We hope to share this with contributors to this consultation before promoting during early 2023.
   
• You can continue the exchange thoughts or contributions to this topic by contacting UNDP Oslo Governance Centre, Niamh Hanafin (niamh.hanafin@undp.org) or Clara Raven (clara.raven@undp.org)

Elections are under attack around the world. The deployment of sophisticated disinformation tactics is now a common strategy to influence democratic processes. The Action Coalition on Information Integrity in Elections needs your help to identify what is going wrong, what the risks are and how we can address it. 

Open exchange of opposing opinions and ideas during elections is fundamental to democracy. As political contests, elections require space for competing perspectives and a level playing field for a broad spectrum of political beliefs. However, today’s information ecosystems are no longer enabling this critical exchange. We cannot expect democracy to withhold when technology is being weaponised to undermine one its core pillars: free, fair, peaceful, and inclusive elections.

Many electoral support actors have been developing and deploying risk mitigation and response measures for civil society, media, government institutions and other stakeholders. Innovative digital tools to help fact-checking, online monitoring, etc form a growing part of these responses. 

We need your help to develop consensus about the scale of the problem, what responses work and why, and how we can mobilise digital technologies effectively in this fight.