This week, a member of our Cultural Survival Community Radio Program team attended the Second Conference on the Process of Central American Integration for Marginalized and Excluded Social Groups, in Sonsonate, El Salvador. The coordinator of our most far-reaching community radio project yet, “Strengthening the Participation and Integration of Indigenous Youth of Belize and Guatemala through Community Radio”, attended the event and presented on the progress of this project, which now includes the participation of youth from El Salvador, Guatemala and Belize.
The conference lasted three days, and included the participation of the coordinators and co-coordinators of the 15 projects that are being financed by this Central American Integration Fund by PAIRCA II, FLACSO, PNUD and the Unión Europea. All of the various organizations presented on the progress of their projects, sharing success stories and difficulties encountered. We were able to discuss our projects and new opportunities with the funders themselves and create important networks with other like-minded organizations. Some of the other projects that were presented during the conference are improving integration for at risk youth through poetry; working with differently abled people towards creating a more inclusive society; and creating stronger networks for the Garífunas of Honduras, Guatemala, Belize and El Salvador, to name a few.
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Our project coordinator and collegues from Tumul K'in Centre of Learning/ Ak'Kutan Radio in Belize at the Central American Integration Conference.
We presented on the progress of our project alongside our Belizean counterparts from Tumul K’in Centre of Learning/ Ak’Kutan Radio and translated their side for the Spanish speaking attendees. The presentation of our project was received positively by the other organizations, with special recognition of the particular difficulty of making inclusive spaces for English-speaking Belizeans in a mainly Spanish-speaking Central America.
Through the networks created at this conference, we now have the contact information for two new Indigenous community radio stations, and are discussing new alliances with other organizations that are dedicated to innovatively creating more democratic and inclusive societies. Conferences like these are effective in creating necessary links for filling the often great divides between organizations working for different causes, but towards similar goals. We are grateful to be participating in the Central American Integration process, and learning about how we may collaborate with other organizations and follow-up on our current projects.
