27 Aug 2014 Citizens’ Radio Station “Zapoteca Air”

Recognizing and Building Communication Rights

Mexico

Created in 2006 by a group of Zapoteca women and men, the Fundación Santa María para la Promoción Indígena y Agroforestal (FUSAMPIAAC) bases its community development work on the understanding of the world according to the Zapoteca ‘cosmovision’ where human beings are inextricably related to the whole of creation. The project sought to equip and launch a community radio station to serve the interests 25 Zapoteca communities which use the El Rincón variety of the language. The radio station was conceived as a tool for the community to share their views, common needs and contributions to society as well as to advocate for the type of development that indigenous people consider appropriate. The project included the training of young Zapotecas in radio skills, the purchase of equipment and building of the premises where the radio was to be housed and the launching of the station as the channel to make the Zapotecas’ voices heard.

The radio broadcasts in Zapotec and its programming addresses issues of of key importantce to the community of El Rincon de la Sierra Norte, including access to health and education services, decent housing and employment. It approaches these issues from an Indigenous point of view ensuring that the solutions being considered are respectful of the Zapotec ‘cosmo-vision’ of the world and the relationship between people and the environment. The community now has a space and a mean of communication administered and managed by the Zapotecs themselves. The radio provides a core from which developmental challenges faced by the communities can be met with the kind of responses which are acceptable to the whole community. A group of Zapotec youth is now able to contribute to the managing of the station and have developed radio skills to maintain the production of programmes in the station. Created in 2006 by a group of Zapoteca women and men, the Fundación Santa María para la Promoción Indígena y Agroforestal (FUSAMPIAAC) bases its community development work on the understanding of the world according to the Zapoteca ‘cosmovision’ where human beings are inextricably related to the whole of creation.

Final Report