"Voices of Communities" - A Toolkit and Podcast Launch

For over five decades, Colombia was afflicted by a long-standing armed struggle between the government, guerrillas, and paramilitaries, resulting in a wide spectrum of human rights violations. In November 2016, after a series of peace talks, an agreement was completed between the Colombian Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, bringing a time of transition to all communities affected by the conflict. Since then, the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, through its Global Initiative for Justice, Truth and Reconciliation (GIJTR), has supported local civil society organizations, as well as the Colombian Truth and Reconciliation Commission, in their efforts to pursue advocacy, accountability, and memorialization.

In 2022, and as part of its work in Colombia, GIJTR developed “Bringing Voice to Silenced Communities: An Introductory Guide to Community Production of Podcasts,” a toolkit that supports local communities interested in collecting and documenting stories of resilience from people who lived through conflict. The manual was co-written in collaboration with La Colectiva Normal and is now available in Spanish, English, and French.

In addition to this manual, GIJTR and La Colectiva Normal supported local communities across Colombia to produce “Historias en Común” (Stories in Common), a podcast series in which individuals share their stories using their own voices. Each episode covers experiences from a different community and highlights its unique perspective. Lessons learned from “Historias en Común” and its production process were used as a starting point to develop the introductory guide mentioned above. All episodes from this new series are available here.

To learn more about “Bringing Voice to Silenced Communities” and “Historias en Común,” join GIJTR’s launch webinar on May 30th at 8:00 EDT (New York). To find your local time, please click here. The event will feature brief presentations from community representatives and provide suggestions for civil society organizations and victims’ groups who are interested in creating similar podcasts. The session will be conducted in Spanish with simultaneous interpretation into English and French. It is free and open to the public.