News from the Field: Citizens' Participation through Technology in Remote Regions of Peru

This article describes how technology plays a key part in facilitating citizens’ participation in Peru, a country with a dispersed population, distant from the centre of decision-making. In Peru, the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) is supporting the pilot project “Innovative System for Citizens’ Participation with Congressmen and Congresswomen”. Implemented by the Hanns Seidel Foundation, the pilot works to help a congresswoman and a congressman from different political parties, in the regions of Arequipa and Piura, better represent their constituencies through the use of technology. The aim is for citizens to have access to their congressional representative from any telephone or internet café, in Spanish or in a local indigenous language, Quechua. According to this article, all staff of the congressional representatives are offered personalised training in the use of the system, backed up by 24-hour technical support from the Foundation’s technology partner, Voxiva. A database is kept of all questions, enabling the congressional representative to prepare timely and comprehensive responses, while fostering transparency and accountability. Special consideration is given to the needs of women and minorities.

In October 2008, the Hanns Seidel Foundation’s Dr. Peter Witterauf and Dr. Dietmar Ehm visited the project and interviewed the congressional representatives, who described the communication channel as "effective and pertinent". Thus, the Foundation recommended the system for countries with similar situations - where many citizens are excluded from political process, are dispersed, and are far away from decision-making centres.