Community radio for peacebuilding in the Colombian post-conflict: transformations, tensions and challenges for content production and local participation

ABSTRACT

The text presents the results of the external evaluation of the project: ‘Community Radio for Peace and Coexistence’ (CRPC), implemented between 2015 and 2017 by the community media network RESANDER, with the support of the Colombian Government and the European Union. Considering that community radios are key actors for the construction of public dialogue and collective action about peace and coexistence in the Colombian territories, the purpose of the CRPC project was to strengthen community radios through a process that involved: training in radio production skills and communication for peace, production of new radio content and circulation of the content produced throughout the project. The evaluation aimed to generate evidence about the role of these community radios, especially after the signature of the peace agreements between the Colombian State and the FARC guerilla. The results show the contributions of the Colombian community radios for the construction of a culture of peace and coexistence from the local territories, as well as the transformations, tensions and challenges they faced on the production of new radio content and the construction of spaces for dialogue, participation and collective action.

KEYWORDS:

• Community radio
• peacebuilding
• post-conflict
• deliberation
• collective action

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Red Cooperativa de Emisoras Comunitarias del Sur de Santander – RESANDER [grant numbers EU-124-2007,EU-124-2017,UN-124-2017].