Date: February 15, 2024

Hour: 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Venue: Rubén Darío Room, GSB/OAS Building 1889 F St. NW

Live Streaming: This event will be webcast live on OAS YouTube channel: https://www.oas.org/en/media_center/webcast_schedule.asp

Languages: English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish

Introduction

Resolution AG/RES. 3004 (LIII-O/23), “Strengthening Democracy,” adopted at the fifty-third regular session of the OAS General Assembly, held in Washington, D.C., requests the General Secretariat, through the Department for Effective Public Management, to organize, within the framework of the Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs (CAJP), a course on digital diplomacy for delegates from permanent missions, foreign ministry officials, and public servants in general, to promote awareness of the role of emerging technologies in strengthening democratic governance.

Given the rapid advance in the region in the use of emerging technologies by the public and private sectors, the absence of regulatory frameworks in that regard, and a private sector that seeks the widespread uptake of the use of artificial intelligence, it is essential to increase knowledge with a view to strengthening regulatory frameworks on the basis of ethical and responsible principles in an era of digital transformation. Thus, the agendas arising from regional agreements, together with the global digital transformation agenda, are giving greater attention to these issues, and multiple multilateral negotiations on these topics have emerged.

Purpose

This course will provide knowledge about the mechanisms and instruments that govern the digital transformation in the Americas for strengthening democracy and those that are under negotiation in multilateral forums. Participants will also learn about different emerging technologies and their implications for government institutions and members of the public.

By the end of the course, participants will have increased their knowledge of digital-transformation terms, concepts, tools, and their applications. Participants will be able to identify and address developments in relation to multilateral strategies and negotiations in this area.

Methodology

The course will be taught in the form of a workshop, combining lectures for imparting knowledge, with interactive participation in the form of questions and answers using the Mentimeter on-line application. This software allows participants to provide short written answers by means of a QR code that will be visible in real time to course attendees, enabling high-volume interaction and input on topics by participants based on their different realities.