After last year’s national elections, all mayors and municipal councilors in Bolivia will be newly elected in March. Who are the candidates, and what are their proposals and programs for the coming years? In the large cities, these questions are analyzed extensively in public debate. In rural areas, by contrast, it is not so easy to gain access to solid and balanced information.

Our program “Informed Citizen Participation” in our home municipality of Yanacachi helps to address this gap. It produces news, interviews, and reports that are disseminated through our cooperation partner, Radio FM Bolivia, via rural radio broadcasts and on various social media platforms. On the notice boards in front of our office on the village square of Yanacachi, election announcements find just as many eager readers as the special editions of our information bulletin “Datos & Hechos de los Yungas.”

Currently, candidates are being interviewed and their programs analyzed. If possible, a panel discussion with the leading candidates will also be organized and broadcast via rural radio, so that voters in the municipality can gain an accurate understanding of their options of whom and what they may cast their ballot for.