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

In some regions of Bolivia, the festival of Alasitas allows people to project their wishes on miniatures that symbolize them, from houses and vehicles to university degrees or the welfare of the family or the community. During a series of face-to-face activities on Media and Information Literacy (MIL), the Muy Waso Foundation proposed to create miniatures representing local proposals to counteract disinformation and hate speech, a sort of MIL alasitas.   

One team of young communicators and activists built a mobile cart to share information about MIL in the popular markets of the city of Tarija that could be used to reach mothers at risk of falling for misinformation or being the victims of scams on social networks. This is just one of the examples of MIL learning experiences the Muy Waso Foundation, with the support of DW Akademie, implemented between 2023 and 2024 in Bolivia.    

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, peri-urban and urban areas to create a network of "MIL Super Agents." In total, more than 40 people with diverse backgrounds and from different parts of Bolivia participated. This allowed for a constructive dialogue between multiple perspectives at a time of strong polarization in the country. 

Cultural relevance for a network of MIL Super Agents   

The objective of the MIL Super Agents network is to create a structure of multipliers, people who can pass on what they learned about MIL to 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 allows me to teach how to identify disinformation to the elderly in my community, who are very susceptible to this phenomenon," said Reyna Laura Muñoz Choque, a community communicator from Radio Turco in Oruro, in the Bolivian highlands.  

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

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

"We need to continue building community ties and promoting MIL as a tool so that the rights of access to information and freedom of expression are fulfilled for all people equally," 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

Innovating also in the format 

This training consisted of a virtual and a face-to-face component and, in both cases, the team made an effort to use appealing methodologies. Communication was first carried out via WhatsApp, the most widely used messaging platform in Bolivia, which allowed for easy sharing of multimedia training material. They also replaced long collective virtual calls with short individualized calls. In the face-to-face meetings, collaborative work and creativity were the central characters.  

"The experience was a lot of fun," said Juan Luis Gutiérrez, a member of Muy Waso. "It was a completely new experience where people could be relaxed, laugh and say what they think."   

This commitment to lively methodologies and collective reflection was an attempt to foster active learning in groups that include people from very diverse backgrounds, perspectives and training.    

Indigenous communicator Vaca Cuéllar

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

These workshops were carried out based on the results obtained in 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).