Cultural Survival
- Cambridge, MA, USA
- Central America & Global
- culturalsurvival.org
- Cultural Survival YouTube
- Cultural Survival Vimeo
- Cultural Survival Radio
Channel Focus Areas:
Advancing Indigenous Women’s Rights and Leadership
Amplifying Gender Equality in Media & Technology
Mission:
Cultural Survival advocates for Indigenous Peoples’ rights and supports Indigenous communities’ self-determination, cultures and political resilience.
Impact:
The core of Cultural Survival(CS)'s efforts rest on the principles of supporting, amplifying efforts and raising awareness of self-determination for Indigenous communities. Since its founding in 1972, CS has curated a robust network of partnerships with Indigenous communities spanning over 70 countries on 6 continents. Their work is predicated on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) where they work to empower Indigenous Peoples as they strive to assert their rights to self-determination and sustain their lands, cultures, and vital ecosystems that are essential to the health of our planet and all living things. Additionally, CS supports and directly engages in the global Indigenous Peoples’ movement and has deep connections and influence across movements, sectors, governmental agencies, and international mechanisms like the United Nations, where they have held consultative status with the United Nations Economic Social and Cultural Council since 2005 and hold observer status at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and Convention on Biodiversity.
Channel started funding CS in 2015 when they were helping organize the First Central American Indigenous Community Radio Conference and made a deliberate effort to include women participants at all levels and to focus more explicitly on advancing Indigenous women's leadership in media. At the 2016 conference, Indigenous community radio journalists successfully launched a Central American Radio Network as is described in the CS magazine article, Out Front: Women Speak Up at the First Central American Indigenous .
Since 2016, CS has organized over 22 trainings benefiting more than 270 women. Recent trainings have taken place in Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Nepal. The attendees learn how to improve their radio operations through a series of workshops and exchanges. They train local volunteers in journalism, broadcasting, interviewing, recording, audio editing, and technical skills.
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- Cultural Survival Female Community Radio Participants
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- Cultural Survival Community Radio group photo
Channel Grants:
2021-24: Channel made a three year general operating grant to Cultural Survival (CS) to continue supporting their work advocating for Indigenous Peoples’ rights and supporting Indigenous communities, and particularly for their work to elevate Indigenous women’s rights and leadership. Funds were used to build out the organization’s infrastructure at the nexus of five themes: land and livelihoods, climate change solutions, cultures and languages, Indigenous community media, and the leadership of Indigenous women and youth as a cross-thematic thread.
2020: General operating support grant for CS’s work advocating for Indigenous Peoples rights and supporting Indigenous communities’ self-determination, cultures and political resilience. In particular the grant supported CS’s work on elevating Indigenous women’s rights and leadership which was highlighted in the March 2021 issue of their magazine focused on the theme Indigenous Women: The Strength of Our Communities.
In 2021, CS published their Gender Balance Policy, an important part of their Strategic Plan, which aimed to recognize the various ways that diverse societies relate to each other and to the environment, constantly seeking balance. This policy does not aim to uplift or center one gender or identity over another but recognizes the imbalances of power, voice, and respect that exist across the gender spectrum.
2018, 2019: Annual grants to support the Strengthening the Leadership of Central American Indigenous Women Community Communicators Initiative which is a part of their broader work promoting the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Cultural Survival organized and led several multi-day trainings and cohort-building leadership workshops for Indigenous women in Central America to attend and gain leadership skills as well as training in investigative journalism, community radio production and technical equipment operations.
The short-term goal of the initiative was to help to build the capacity of around 32 Indigenous radio women by increasing their technical abilities as well as their abilities to represent gender equity-focused perspectives in radio programming and in their communities (via a series of workshops) in the coming year.
The longer-term goal of the initiative was initiate transformation in the dynamic of paternalism and mainstream exploitation of Indigenous women by creating role models for Indigenous girls and women and to transform the narrative in their communities to include a conversation on gender equity and human rights issues.
2016: Grant to support CS' Strengthening Indigenous Women Leadership in Community Radio Initiative. In particular, funds supported the organization of a multi-day workshop for a cohort of indigenous women from Central America to attend and gain leadership skills as well as training in investigative journalism, community radio production and technical equipment operations. The intention of this initiative was to increase the visibility and capacity of Indigenous women’s leadership so that they will be able to use community radio as a medium for advancing gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in their respective communities.
Cultural Survival released a Indigenous Women Rising Quarterly Newsletter in March 2018 that featured an article about the radio project along with stories of indigenous women who are rising and resisting.
2015: Channel made a grant to CS to support the travel and participation costs of eight indigenous women community radio broadcasters from Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua in the First Central American Indigenous Community Radio Conference in Kuna Yala, Panama in January 16-19, 2016. The goal of the conference was to establish the foundation for a Central American regional indigenous community radio network for sharing resources, technologies, good practices, political strategies, and building international political support, all with the goal of supporting Indigenous Peoples’ struggle in defense of their identify, land, and human rights.