Parliamentary support: Public service reform: Minority parliamentarians could play an important role in proposing legislative reforms that would help minorities to realize their rights and to have a stronger voice in governance. Minorities could face significant barriers in getting elected. However, this usually stems from discrimination within political parties and from lack of resources to run for office. Depending on local environment, support could be offered to parliamentarians that wish to form caucuses on minority related concerns or regional networks to unite minority parliamentarians. In the United States, for example, the Congressional Black Caucus has been active since 1971 in supporting legislation that would help meet the needs of African Americans. In Latin America, a Black Parliament of the Americas is being forged as a regional network of Afro-descendant parliamentarians. The NGO Minority Rights Group International has been supporting a network of pastoralist parliamentarians in Eastern and the Horn of Africa. The public service bears much responsibility for implementing minority rights but may not have the capacity. Activities in public service reform could: advise on how to increase the employment of minorities as public servants; train public servants on non-discrimination; provide complaints mechanisms accessible to all; and ensure that public services are equally accessible to minorities, including in the regions in which they live and in the languages that they speak. These efforts will help minorities to not only benefit more from public services like health and education, it will also enable minorities to become deliverers of these services, making governance more participatory and increasing trust in institutions. UNDP is working with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) on a three-year project (2008-2010), Promoting Inclusive Parliaments: the representation of minorities and indigenous peoples in parliament. The project aims to assist parliaments to become more inclusive of the social diversity of the population and to increase knowledge and capacity to advocate for this goal. Among the outputs of the project will be baseline data on representation of minorities and indigenous peoples in parliaments globally. 54 Media: Equal access to the media is an important element of political participation. Minorities have the right to freedom of expression in their own language and pertaining to their own culture. Efforts to assist independent media and public service broadcasting could include targeted programmes for the development of media outlets servicing minority groups, including allocation of subsidies, broadcasting frequencies and capacity building. Governments could adopt measures to combat hate speech in the media, including anti-hate speech legislation, monitoring and self-regulation mechanisms by media outlets. M A R G I N A L I S E D M I N O R I T I E S I N D E V E LO P M E N T P R O G R A M M I N g