SPAIN: Third Sector does not exist in the reports on information society

In Spain there are a number of institutions that report on an annual basis on the changes that new technologies and the internalisation of information are bringing about. But as in other areas, they pay very little attention to the Third Sector.

The Observatory on Telecommunications and the Information Society, for instance, is a public body that collects and summarises indicators, carries out studies and provides updated information. It is the most relevant public monitoring on the Information Society currently existing in Spain but neglects the influence of new technologies on the Third Sector.

The Foundation France Telecom in Spain also publishes a report called eEspaña, which reviews the legal framework of the Information Society, the access to new technologies by Spanish households, their use in enterprises, etc., but gives only brief glimpses of the Third Sector.

The Telefónica Group also edits a report on the Information Society in Spain, whose aim is also to look at the degree of relevance of the Information Society in Spain and to publicise the advantages of new technologies. Public Administrations, enterprises and citizens take part in these analyses but not, again, the Third Sector.

It can therefore be concluded that the possibilities that the Information Society offers for the Third Sector are hardly mentioned in these studies whose purpose is to provide a national picture. This invisibility is a proof of the scarce attention paid to the Third Sector in Spain which does not preclude the existence of very specific reports on the influence of new technologies in the disabled, the homeless or migrants.