Promoting LGBTQ rights over the air waves in El Salvador

Deep in the countryside of El Salvador, PWRDF partner CoCoSI has worked for decades with local community members and leaders to destigmatize non-binary gender stereotyping and provide safe spaces for people of diverse gender expression to share experiences, collaborate with one another, and advocate for safe and inclusive communities.  

PWRDF recently visited CoCoSI in rural northeastern El Salvador, where the pavement ends and communities emerge tucked between rolling hills thick with vegetation.  Remote communities, especially in this part of the world, are not often perceived to be the safest spaces for freedom of expression, but the sense of welcome, warmth and hospitality one encounters is genuine and unmistakable.  Reaching these communities is done through several innovative community approaches, and one of the best methods by which CoCoSI can reach out to the people and develop community acceptance and visibility to LGBTQIA2S+ perspectives and needs is with community radio.

Community radio in El Salvador has played a crucial role in grassroots communication, social advocacy, and community empowerment, and remains a key medium for promoting local culture, informing rural populations and addressing social and political issues. CoCoSI works with local radio stations to communicate their message of acceptance and celebration of diversity, provide educational programs, and promote civic participation.  In this manner, community radio offers CoCoSI an avenue for social change by embracing alternative narratives that embrace diversity and destigmatize myths and safeguard the rights of the most marginalized.

El Salvador is a country where economic migratory pressure continues to challenge local communities, and the preservation of local knowledge and talent is threatened.  LGBTQIA2S+ persons have the added pressure of some of the strongest cultural persecution in the Western hemisphere to seek safety abroad.  Radio messages that mobilize community solidarity and build local acceptance for diversity of expression are a vital component in CoCoSI’s multi-pronged approach to strengthening community support and acceptance for diversity in gender expression, protecting Salvadoran youth.

Bart Dickinson is the Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator for PWRDF.