Community communication is a powerful tool to tell the stories developed by communicators from the peoples and communities of the Amazon, who teach us about the struggles in defense of their lands from their own voices and narratives. In this sense, Hivos and the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA), within the scope of the All Eyes on the Amazon program, present a series of podcasts on the challenges faced and the climate solutions proposed by the Amazonian indigenous peoples.
The documentary podcast series “We are the Voices of the Forest” is the result of a collaborative training and production process, developed under the methodology of “learning by doing”, and which involved 15 communicators from six Amazonian countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.
The series, consisting of 6 episodes, address several issues involving the leading role of indigenous peoples in the fight against climate change, such as: the struggle for the recognition of indigenous territories in Suriname; capacity building initiatives led by indigenous lawyers in Brazil who advocate for the demarcation of indigenous territories; the decision of a young woman in Bolivia to run as leader of her community, having to face the catastrophic fires that raged in her region in 2019 and 2021; the persecution of indigenous leaders in Peru who, to protect their territory, seek refuge in the forest; and the fight for justice for the murder of Virgilio Trujillo, leader and founder of one of Venezuela’s indigenous surveillance groups, who was murdered by those who want to destroy the forest.
Each episode was produced by representatives of each country, in addition to an episode with a regional perspective produced by COICA, which claims for the permanent protection of 80% of the Amazon forest by 2025, as an urgent measure to stop the inflection point of this biome from of a disruptive proposal to generate structural changes.
The methodology for training and producing the series of podcasts was developed by the Sacha Manchi Traveling Community Film School, which developed a virtual course on “Documentary Podcast Production”, which is now available to the public free of charge, in English, Portuguese and Spanish, at the Academy of the AEA Learning Platform.
The series premiere will take place on October 11, through an event held live by Zoom at this link. The meeting will have the presence of spokespeople from the 6 countries, who will share their experience of collective creation through the virtual environment, allowing the spectator to know the details of the production process, its participants and the contents of each of the episodes.
In addition, the series premiere event will have a collective listening to the first episode: “Ajose yavinamu” (Indigenous Protectors), in memory of Virgilio Trujillo, the episode’s protagonist who was murdered during its production. From the day of the premiere, episodes will be released weekly through the AEA Learning Platform, the social networks of AEA and of the involved organizations, community radio and streaming platforms.
For more information:
Karina Melo
AEA Linking & Learning Coordinator
kmelo@hivos.org
Nora Sánchez Luzardo
AEA Communications Officer
nsanchez@hivos.org
Jessika García
Responsible for Communication at COICA
jessika.garcia@coicamazonia.org