Using Community Radio to Promote Peacebuilding in Colombia

Using Community Radio to Promote Peacebuilding in Colombia

Through the USAID-funded Colombia, Responde program, Global Communities has been helping communities in the Montes de Maria region of northern Colombia. Affected by decades of civil conflict, the communities in Montes de Maria experienced some of the worst violence and massive population displacements. With security tenuous and more than half the population displaced, social networks were ripped apart and local governments and institutions stopped functioning. As displaced families have returned, the process of rebuilding social cohesion and community trust has been a slow and challenging process. One tool being used to help in that process is community radio. With the support of the Colombia Responde, more than two dozen rural communities now have their own radio production centers where residents produce and broadcast their own shows.  Known as the “Voices and Sounds of Montes de Maria,” the programs give residents a venue for discussing pressing social and economic issues, sharing stories and experiences, and celebrating their culture and traditions.
Earlier this month, the residents of the community of Las Palmas had the opportunity to participate in the Voices and Sounds of Montes de Maria. Residents expressed their commitment to restore their village; spoke of their lives, dreams and culture; and discussed the slaughter that occurred 14 years ago on September 27, 1999, forcing 200 people to flee the community and relocate. Today, forty families currently live in the community and they dream of being a center of trade and an agricultural corridor they were in the past. In addition to discussing their hopes for the future, they talked about the current challenges that hindered the return process, such as lack of roads and electricity. Local musician and songwriter, July Fontalvo also performed and anthropologists  Michelle Campuzano and Juliana Ramirez spoke about the importance of indigenous ruins found in Las Palmas and nearby Bajo Grande. 
Listen to the full program below.