The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC or ECLAC) is one of five regional commissions of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). It was created in 1948 to support Latin American governments in the economic and social development of that region, and is headquartered in Santiago, Chile. ECLAC coordinates actions for Latin American development and reinforces economic relationships among the countries and with the other nations of the world.

The ECLAC Information Society Programme  is carried out by the Division of Production, Productivity and Management. The programme counts with a permanent staff of experts and assistants and a considerable number of consultants. It receives financial assistance from the European Union, in the framework of the Political and Regulatory Dialogue of the Alliance for the Information Society (@LIS), from the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas (ICA)  of Canada's IDRC and is cooperating in joint projects with a series of other actors from the public and private sector, including UNDP, Regulatel, Fundación Telefonica and Ahciet.

Following the mandate of the Statistical Conference of the Americas and with the help of its donors and partners, ECLAC has set up the Observatory for the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean (OSILAC). The main objective of OSILAC is to centralize and harmonize data that serve to monitor the status of what is known as the "information society" in the Latin American and Caribbean region. The Observatory provides support to national statistical institutes in compiling indicators on information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the region and in employing the associated methodology. It also centralizes data to assist in analysis.