Democratic Governance

Ensuring Freedom of Expression and the Right to Information for Inclusive Governance
Access to Information is a pivotal empowerment tool and underpins effective interventions in the area of democratic governance which is central to sustained poverty reduction and the achievement of the MDGs. It is vital for strengthening accountability, transparency, participation and rule of law. Accessible and understandable information and the means and ability to communicate are important for enabling people to participate in policy making processes and the decisions that affect their lives. UNDP believes that the implementation of the right to freedom of expression and the right to information are prerequisites for ensuring the voice and participation necessary for an open democratic society. This means that the promotion and protection of both access to information itself and flows of information that exist between constituents – both men and women, government, parliament, community groups, civil society organizations and the private sector are of equal importance.

UNDP's activities in access to information focus on: improving the enabling legal and regulatory environment for freedom and pluralism in information; strengthening the capacity of independent and pluralist media; strengthening the capacity of civil society to raise awareness on rights to information and promoting communication mechanisms that enable marginalized groups to participate effectively in governance processes. A mapping of UNDP access to information projects identified 68 projects. Of the 68 projects identified, just under a third focus on media development.

E-governance
Use and deployment of the new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has been rapidly growing since the early 1990s. While the initial focus of the so-called "ICT revolution" was on infrastructure deployment and connectivity, a shift has now taken place.

While most developing countries still face, to various degrees, serious access challenges, the focus is now on the development of use of specific ICT applications and, in general, on the use of the new technologies to address traditional development problems and challenges.