Building a resilient electoral information environment in Fiji

Building upon the insights gained from the first mapping workshop held in December 2023, the primary goal of the May 2024 Workshop was to develop a comprehensive roadmap aimed at enhancing the protection of the information environment around elections in Fiji. To do this, the workshop centered around four key aspects. The first aspect, Group Identity, involved focusing on members’ expertise, their outreach capabilities, the group’s monitoring and fact-checking proficiency, and electoral knowledge. The second aspect, Operationalizing the Group, aimed at addressing the involvement of relevant stakeholders, devising capacity-building strategies to fill gaps in expertise, establishing agreed-upon working modalities and coordination mechanisms, and enhancing the group's visibility. The third aspect, Group Objectives and Activities, focuses on developing an activity plan leading to the roadmap development by targeting the risk areas highlighted in the Mapping Workshop. Finally, the fourth aspect, Resource Discussion, was crucial for supporting resource and fundraising dialogues. This included ensuring sustainability amidst challenges, exploring potential avenues for fundraising, and mitigating political and reputational risks for group members. 

Additionally, the workshop aimed to foster collaboration among critical electoral stakeholders to devise adaptable strategies in response to the evolving information environment.  Other key activities include curbing hate speech, promoting safe online spaces, and promoting compliance with campaign rules.   

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The workshop methodology builds on an activity-based, ‘inquiry learning’ approach similar to the BRIDGE curriculum and the International IDEA context overview workshops on electoral risk management. The next workshop, envisioned for July 2024, will take the first steps toward roadmap implementation, which may include a priority-setting exercise with all stakeholders. 

The workshop is part of a comprehensive project designed to enhance the protection of electoral processes in the information environment. The project consists of three key phases: (1) a Mapping Workshop focused on mapping the information environment and its actors, (2) a Roadmap Workshop serving as a starting point for developing strategic roadmaps to enhance the protection of electoral processes from information environment threats, and (3) an Implementation Workshop where initial steps are taken to put the developed roadmap into action. 

Informed by global best practices and exchanges between partner countries, the project will enable national actors to identify suggestions for the way forward, work towards implementing suggestions, and share lessons learned with global audiences. The project is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office and implemented by International IDEA.