In the last few years, Venezuela has experienced information media diversification due to the proliferation of community and alternative media, in their various modalities: print, radio, television and Websites. These media have arisen in view of the need for different societal stakeholders to shift from being passive consumers of information to acting as the protagonists, generators and carriers of their own information spaces. Venezuela currently has 244 radio stations, 37 television stations, 211 community newspapers and multiple websites with this orientation. According to the report on community communication, these alternative communicators have been trained in technical and production topics, but only 12% have undergone training in socio-political or community journalism areas. To date, the various universities of Venezuela have not offered any courses to enhance training for grassroots communicators, who have multiplied in various zones of the country, thanks to this strengthening of neighborhood organizations. As a sample of this new local organization, communication committees work actively to develop information strategies within community councils.
 
In order to address this issue, the Bolivarian University of Venezuela will create a diploma programme to strengthen training for alternative and community communicators, in order to provide them with the academic and methodological tools they need, through a diploma programme aimed at improving journalism practices and promoting debate about their scope and repercussions. The diploma curriculum will be designed in line with UNESCO’s Model Curricula for Journalism Education, and students will not pay to follow the Diploma programme. The University is committed to pursuing a gender equality policy for recruitment, staff development and students’ selection.