Institut IDEA International

Purpose

The project will contribute to increased resilience against foreign and national information operations that seek to erode the quality of democracy and the international rules-based order. The project will first conduct an extensive network analysis, qualitative interviews with stakeholders, and desk research to establish a solid empirical foundation about “information operations” (those operations and actors seeking to influence the public discourse and election campaigns) in each country. The project will combine local knowledge on key actors and key narratives being spread online with research techniques seeking to draw a picture of the way the political debate is being shaped by Foreign Influence and Manipulation of Information (FIMI). Subsequently, the project team will conduct an extensive mapping exercise in each pilot country and identify key civil society actors that are working on pro-transparency political reforms, political participation of women and the youth, and other related issues. Finally, the project will create spaces of dialogues to bring together oversight actors (i.e. electoral management bodies, political finance oversight agencies, etc.), legislators and civil society organizations to share experiences and lessons learnt, which will, in turn, build their capacities not only to better understand the problem but also equip them with practical guidelines for developing appropriate policy measures to improve information integrity in online spaces, including designing appropriate interventions to tackle the use of FIMI against women.