01 Aug 2024 Project strengthens Indigenous community radio in Central America

A WACC-supported project is advancing community radio as a channel for Indigenous communities in Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Panama to advocate for their rights.

Run by the Estor Association for Integral Development (AEPDI), a Guatemalan organization supporting Indigenous social justice and development, the project aims to strengthen the Network of Central American Indigenous Radio Stations. The 12–member network includes broadcasters in seven countries.

According to AEPDI, the network members have been hard put to keep up with technological developments, meaning they have not been able to make use of mobile phones to increase the impact of their radio broadcasts and social media presence.

Structural issues create barriers between Indigenous peoples in Central America and present further challenges for Indigenous communities to advocate for their rights, says Rax Coc, AEPDI project coordinator.

“Few people have access to media where they can speak in their languages and [contribute] their ancestral knowledge.”

Collaboration and digital tech

Through the project, co-funded by long-time WACC partner Cultural Survival, AEPDI is bringing together Indigenous broadcasters throughout Central America to strengthen collaboration between radio stations.

One aim is to produce a series of broadcasts calling the Guatemalan government to comply with a December 2021 ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) to give legal recognition to Indigenous community radio stations in the country.

To support this and other programming to advance Indigenous rights, AEPDI is equipping over 150 Indigenous communicators from community radio stations in five areas with mobile phones and training them to use the devices to facilitate their stations’ programming.

Initial trainings have covered topics such as video and audio editing and the use of artificial intelligence in content production. Digital security has also been an important aspect of the workshops, according to Coc.

“There is a clear need among community communicators to strengthen their capacities in the use of mobile technologies,” notes the AEPDI project coordinator.

WACC partner Radio Ixchel, one of the Indigenous broadcasters that brought the Indigenous freedom of expression case to the IACHR, has been among the workshop participants.

Community radio as key to raising Indigenous voices

AEPDI has been training community leaders to advocate for their rights — in particular for their right to their lands and Mayan language — for nearly a quarter of a century, Coc says.

He stresses that strengthening the network of Indigenous community radio broadcasters is essential to efforts to protect and promote Indigenous rights.

“History has shown us that the only ones who raise the voice of the people and inform Indigenous people of Central America are the Indigenous communicators themselves, and through them we are able to strengthen citizen participation.”

Indigenous radio broadcasters at a project workshop learn about presenting journalistic data and using mobile phones to produce radio programming. Photo: AEPDI

WACC works in partnership with AEPDI and other communication rights and sustainable development organizations worldwide through its Communication for All Program (CAP), with support from Bread for the World-Germany.