Politica Stereo, which translates to Radio Politics, is a civil society organization (CS0) with local chapters in Chile, Colombia, Mexico and the U.S. using social media to fight corruption in El Salvador. The organization’s Facebook campaign is part of a larger international anticorruption initiative, the Democracy Strengthening Program (DSP), funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and  administered by DI Development, a business of DynCorp International.

It’s a public awareness effort that’s showing signs of success.

Today, Politica Stereo has more than 3,600 Facebook “likes”, meaning  that  many people can view and learn from their five online video messages produced by DSP on transparency and anticorruption from Politica Stereo academic and government leaders. Their videos received more than 18,000 views within the first three days of being posted!

Combating High Levels of Corruption through Partnerships

DSP works with all government sectors in the fight against corruption in El Salvador. In order to reach a broad audience, the program, through partnership with the Sub-Secretariat of Transparency and Anticorruption, helped Politica Stereo broadcast the five videos produced by DSP. Best of all, the video initiative has spawned sustainable partnerships with several other El Salvadoran CSOs and government ministries.

These institutions include, but are not limited to: the Ministry of Public Works, Roads Preservation Fund, Government Ethics Tribunal, Salvadoran Chamber of Construction, National Foundation of Development, the Social Initiative for Democracy, Foundation for Law Enforcement Studies, Salvadoran Chamber of Commerce, Supreme Court of Justice, many Salvadoran universities, and the Salvadoran Journalist Association.

Reaching a Broader Audience

DSP hopes their videos create as much awareness as possible. In addition to being on Politica Stereo’s Facebook page, many are shown on the national television network and at movie theaters, banks, and government offices in El Salvador – they’re even planned to be featured on inbound and outbound commercial airline flights from San Salvador, the capital. The themes include access to information, accountability, corruption, citizen participation, and ethical principles and values. Each video is produced in Spanish with English subtitles.

The impact is clear: strong, easily accessible messages reaching a broader audience and, more importantly, generating public discourse. Two of the videos on Facebook garnered more than 80 viewer’s comments within hours of posting.

These videos are also available on the DynCorp International YouTube page.