Bolivia: A network of 'MIL Super Agents' prepares to dismantle disinformation

At the Alasitas festival held in some regions of Bolivia, people project their wishes on to miniature forms that symbolize those wishes, such as houses and cars, university degrees or the welfare of their family or community. At a series of on-site Media and Information Literacy (MIL) activities, the Muy Waso Foundation proposed creating miniatures that symbolize local ideas for countering disinformation and hate speech. In other words, an "MIL Alasitas."   

A team of young communicators and activists at one workshop, for example, built a miniature mobile cart to symbolize how to share information about MIL in the popular markets of Tarija, a city. The cart could be used to reach mothers susceptible to misinformation or becoming victims of social network scams. This is just one of the MIL learning experiences that the Muy Waso Foundation, with DW Akademie support, implemented in Bolivia between 2023 and 2024.    

Creators of the "MIL trolley against misinformation" proudly show off their prototype

The program brought together people from the fields of community communication, content creation and activism from rural, semi-urban and urban areas to create a network of "MIL Super Agents." More than 40 people with diverse backgrounds and from different regions in Bolivia took part, enabling a constructive dialogue with various perspectives at a time of strong polarization in the country. 

Cultural relevance for a network of MIL Super Agents   

The MIL Super Agents network aims to create a structure of "multipliers" - people who can share what they have learned about MIL with their communities and collectives. Much of the focus was on developing media competencies and skills while paying close attention to the particularities of each community. 

"This program enables me to teach the elderly in my community how to identify disinformation, because they are very susceptible to this," said Reyna Laura Muñoz Choque, a community communicator from Radio Turco in Oruro, a city in the Bolivian highlands.  

Muñoz Choque, second from the right, contributed her experience as a community communicator

The workshops created safe spaces for exchange between community communicators, sexual and gender diversity activists and members of feminist collectives from both rural and urban areas. These groups often have different political positions which, in some cases, can be antagonistic. 

"We need to continue building community ties and promoting MIL as a tool so that all people can exercise their rights of access to information and freedom of expression," reflected Michelle Nogales, Muy Waso's general director. 

Addressing issues such as feminism requires assessing the background of each person in order to tailor the message

Innovative also in the format 

The training consisted of a virtual as well as an on-site component and, in both cases, the team used appealing approaches. Communication was first done via WhatsApp, the most widely used messaging platform in Bolivia and which allowed for easy sharing of multimedia training material. Short one-on-one calls replaced drawn-out virtual collective calls. In face-to-face meetings, the focus was on collaborative work and creativity. 

"It was a lot of fun," said Juan Luis Gutiérrez, a member of Muy Waso, "and it was a completely new experience where people could relax, laugh and say what they thought."   

This commitment to lively approaches and collective reflection is aimed at fostering  active learning in groups with people from diverse backgrounds, perspectives and training.    

Indigenous communicator Vaca Cuéllar

"Theoretical [knowledge] gets lost, but when you make learning dynamic, you keep it," said Ismael Vaca Cuéllar, who had travelled a whole day to get to the workshop from Charagua, a municipality with a large indigenous population. "This way, I can pass it on to my community."   

The workshops were based on the results of the National Survey 2023: Perceptions and attitudes about disinformation and hate speech among journalists, communicators and content creators (in Spanish), conducted by Muy Waso with the support of DW Akademie.

Muy Waso is a strategic partner of DW Akademie in Bolivia. The joint project is financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).