Strong Voices: A C4D Workshop on Storytelling for Indigenous Women’s Empowerment

This interactive workshop allowed participants to participate in the development of radio drama characters in order to tell a story surrounding important issues of gender.  PCI Media Impact works with local organizations to develop radio dramas that are relevant to the lives of the women that they serve.  This session focused on a program Latin America: Strong Women-Strong Voices to work with communities to shift social norms on violence against women.  With a social justice perspectives, these radio dramas are not only a source of information via stories, but also have a discussion component in which listeners can call in and voice their own perspectives, learning process and opinions to engage listeners in social changes.  The power of discussion is critical in changing the lives of women and to simply create a radio program without an opportunity for dialogue limits the impact of the programs. This participatory approach was also evident in the session itself. 

            Participants of the workshop were able to share in the experience of creating stories for change by learning about and developing characters for change.  At the center of the workshop was learning to develop strong characters that an audience can fall in love with and that will provide a story that is a source of power.  The hands-on approach of character development helped participants discover the flexible and contextual strengths of the approach, as we were able to infuse the characters with our own knowledge, culture and perspectives.  While listeners don’t develop the programs themselves, local organizations provide the relevant context to help ensure that listeners can seem themselves and their own communities, along with their own potential, in these programs.   The power that comes with characters to which women, their families and their communities can relate is essential in the transformation of ideas regarding gender and domestic violence.