Educommunication in a Sustainable Amazon Foundation project

Manaus, Brazil.- The Sustainable Amazonia Foundation (FAS) promotes a series of projects whose objective is to promote a complementary training to that received by primary and secondary students in the public network of the State of Amazonas, in the after hours of lessons. One of these projects, Reporteros de la Selva, offers training in the field of educommunication since 2014. Last year alone, the initiative involved 78 students (45 girls and 33 boys), aged 12 to 21, from 4 connected schools to 9 communities in 4 municipalities.

One of the practical results of the project was the production of 3 newspapers whose content addresses themes and characters from the students' own communities.

Currently, the project continues with interrupted face-to-face activities, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The pedagogue Anderson Mattos, manager of the FAS Education for Sustainability Program in which Reporteros de la Selva is inserted, affirms that this moment ended up being propitious to organize brochures with the content of the workshops already given and that can be used by consultants in the next classes. . The objective of FAS is to make the project reach more regions of the Amazon.

For Mattos, more than learning communicative practices, the project is a support for the study of school content combined with the exercise of mobilizing local communities and their knowledge. "It is also an opportunity for the student to cultivate a different and critical look at the very reality in which he lives and to give a voice to these young people," he says.

After initial training voluntarily given by invited consultants, students participate in workshops on communication topics, such as photography, video and text production, the hours of which vary according to the availability of human and material resources. In this sense, FAS has support organizations, among which the main one is the Samsung company. Each class in the course has an average of 25 students, from a community or small communities close to each other. The project is in charge of picking up these students by boat and setting them up for the activities carried out in a local school.

Sometimes the activities or their results go beyond those originally conceived by the project. Anderson Mattos says the stories produced by the students have already been shown on a local television station. Another notable experience was the participation of young people from the project in the Globo News series Amazônidas. Young reporters have also collaborated with other FAS actions, such as covering one of the meetings promoted by the entity for community leaders. "The articles were published during the event and were special to bring young people closer to the topics discussed."

Identity and cultural awareness

Another typical result of the project is the initiative of the graduates of the degree to pursue professional careers in the area of ​​communication or to continue the project, in their communities, on their own initiative. In this sense, Anderson Mattos highlights the experience of an indigenous community of kambeba, whose action - on women "reporters" has been intense.

The journalist Macarena Mairata, FAS press officer, points out that the initiative of the project to take students to visit the newsrooms of the main media and promote the contact of these young people with experienced professionals has been another important action. "The exchange of knowledge between these press professionals (with their urban look at reality) with the young people who live in communities in the interior of Amazonas is something very interesting to strengthen the students' own cultural identity," argues the journalist.

In this sense, Mairata highlights the experience of the young Odenilse Ramos who started the project at age 15. Born in a very isolated riverside community, far from Manaus, the young woman had the opportunity to get in touch with many people, including journalists from large media newsrooms in São Paulo. Odenilse was also invited to speak at the United Nations (UN) on behalf of the young people from the riverside on how climate change has affected the lives of communities like hers. Although she had these opportunities, the young woman chose to remain in her community to which she brought the knowledge acquired in these experiences carried out in places around the world. According to Macarena Mairata, this is an example of the project's success in encouraging young people to value their own cultural identity and encouraging them to fight for improvements for their community.

Check out the Instagram page of Reporteros de la Selva for images and videos about the project: Click here

About FAS

Based in Manaus, Fundación Amazonia Sostenible carries out environmental, social and economic projects aimed at conserving the Amazon rainforest. It is a non-profit organization or linked to political parties, of public utility, benefiting from social assistance. More information: Click here .

Photo: Forest reporters in action: communicative practices value the life of communities (FAS website)

Editorial staff: Luís Henrique Marques, journalist, editor-in-chief of Cidade Nova magazine, secretary of the board of directors of SIGNIS Brasil and member of the Education and Research sector of the same association.

Source: SIGNIS Brazil