Uruguay
The Broad Front strengthens training for activists and tests a pilot plan for social media
The left-wing coalition rolled out a course with ministers, technical experts and academics, and added an experimental workshop for digital activism. Meanwhile, Luis Lacalle Pou closed a new edition of a public management program at the CED with former officials as instructors.
The Broad Front has launched over the past two years a training scheme for young activists and is considering deepening it in 2027 with new content and spaces for debate. According to Búsqueda, the process included classes with leaders of the political force, academics, communicators and members of the cabinet, in addition to a pilot plan focused on activism on social media.
According to that outlet, the initiative was not open to all: participants were nominated by sectors and grassroots groups, with the requirement of being under 40 and having a relatively recent activist trajectory. The design was led by Agustín Canzani, director of the Fundación Liber Seregni, and was organized into four modules developed between 2025 and 2026.
In 2025, 120 activists completed the course and two-thirds continued the following year. New participants were then added and the cycle closed with 131 people who attended at least two-thirds of the sessions, Búsqueda reported. Classes were held in person at the Huella de Seregni and also remotely.
Among those who took part as speakers were Gabriel Quirici, Verónica Piñeiro, Manuel Ferrer, Ricardo Ehrlich, Gustavo Leal and Canzani himself. This year, technical and academic profiles such as Fernando Filgueira, Carmen Beramendi, Alejandra Picco and Fernando Isabella were added. In the final stretch there were meetings with ministers from the current government, including Pablo Menoni, Mario Lubetkin, Gonzalo Civila, José Carlos Mahía, Cristina Lustemberg and Tamara Paseyro. Gabriel Oddone was due to take part, but due to scheduling was replaced by undersecretary Martín Vallcorba, according to Búsqueda.
In addition, 24 of the 131 activists who completed the course were called to an experimental workshop on social media, held on August 19 for nine hours. The activity was led by Marcos Casas, with the involvement of the Broad Front communications team, and focused on practical tools for content production. The attendees were under 35, had digital activism experience and were not part of the communications teams of senior officials. They also agreed to have their accounts monitored to assess results, Búsqueda noted.
Gerardo Rey, the Broad Front’s training secretary, told Búsqueda that the political force understands digital activism as a field of dispute. With that diagnosis, the coalition plans to define whether it will systematize and expand the experience. For 2027, Rey and Canzani are preparing a more condensed version of the course, with nine sessions over a year, and are considering adding workshops on climate change, artificial intelligence and the energy matrix.
The weekly also reported that within the Broad Front there was an exchange about the need to train cadres. Minister Fernanda Cardona raised in a grassroots committee that the governing party needed to prepare itself more on technical issues and mentioned, by contrast, the activity of former officials linked to the Center for Development Studies. Rey, for his part, said the Broad Front had no problems attracting cadres during its time in government, although he acknowledged that the challenge of training remains present.
Meanwhile, Luis Lacalle Pou closed on August 16 the second edition of the Advanced Management Program for Public Administration at the Center for Development Studies. According to what the CED posted on its social media and what Búsqueda reported, the proposal aims to attract and train potential high-impact public servants.
The teaching staff included former ministers from Lacalle Pou’s government such as Azucena Arbeleche, Pablo Mieres and Omar Paganini, as well as Isaac Alfie, Diego Labat, Mercedes Aramendía and Washington Abdala. Nicolás Herrera and Nicolás Jodal also took part. This edition began in July, with weekly two-hour classes, and was aimed at people between 25 and 40 years old with university education or specific experience and an interest in public policy.
According to Búsqueda, there were 1,500 applicants and the CED selected 35. Agustín Iturralde, the center’s executive director, told the outlet that attracting talent for public service is a challenge and stressed that the course is not at the service of any party or any government in particular. The CED also announced new public management training instances led by the former president.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not do its own reporting on this event.
