POLIS: Learnings, Advocacy, and New Connections for Digital Sovereignty
How do we keep strengthening civil society's capacity to influence the decisions shaping our digital future? That was one of the central questions behind POLIS, DemocráTICa's training and advocacy space.
POLIS combined training, exchange, and collective work to think through advocacy strategies for digital agendas. That process produced a range of outputs and lessons, which we're sharing now so they can continue to be useful to those working for rights and digital democracy in the region.
A regional stance on digital sovereignty
One of the results of this process is the Policy Brief "Digital Sovereignty in Latin America and the Caribbean," which draws on the perspective built within the DemocráTICa ecosystem and puts forward a set of recommendations aimed at multilateral organizations.
The document starts from a diagnosis: civil society in the region has little to no influence in the spaces where key decisions are made about infrastructure, technological standards, regulations, and digital governance. From there, it identifies five enabling conditions for advancing toward a rights-based digital sovereignty:
Infrastructure — fund digital infrastructure as a public good
Technological standards — ensure democratic data governance frameworks and algorithmic transparency in AI
Regulations and standards — anchor digital sovereignty in human rights
Governance — guarantee civil society's active participation in the development and procurement of technologies
Resources — sustain stable funding for local projects and promote digital commons
The brief translates each of these conditions into concrete calls to action for multilateral organizations — from sustaining regional infrastructure to reduce dependence on foreign clouds, to recognizing local leadership and maintaining stable funding for digital autonomy.
From diagnosis to new forms of collaboration
The advocacy and coordination work driven by POLIS also gave rise to new tools for better understanding the digital sovereignty ecosystem and strengthening its connections.
Futuro Público carried out a mapping of the digital sovereignty ecosystem in Latin America and the Caribbean, gathering information on organizations, communities, specialists, networks, projects, and institutions linked to these issues.
Mutante, for its part, developed a Latin American directory for digital sovereignty, aimed at making visible the shared capacities, needs, and interests among those working across the region.
Continuing to build together
Advocacy work doesn't end with a document. It also means building capacity, sharing lessons, and creating connections so that more voices from the region have a place in the conversations shaping our digital future.
That's why we continue making these resources and experiences available — so they can be consulted, shared, and used by those still working toward a more inclusive digital democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean.
