Training Volunteers

Cultural Survival is currently conducting a variety of training programs for station volunteers in Guatemala to build the stations' ability for self-development.  Valuable skills abound among the 1,300 volunteers: 23 know how to repair radio equipment (three of whom are electrical engineers); three have masters degrees in journalism; more than 20 have degrees in communications; another 40 are currently communications students. Eight have taught computer and internet courses, one is a former congressman, one is a lawyer, two have MBAs, and three are professional sports play-by-play announcers.  Cultural Survival is coordinating these skilled workers to train the rest of the station volunteers in content production, radio theater scripting, broadcasting, lobbying, Internet use and journalism.  These trainings help to pave the way for long-term sustainability for the project.

In 2009, Cultural Survival’s Community Radio Project trained 326 community radio volunteers. These are the people who operate the community stations in their own villages and keep them on the air sixteen hours a day, seven days a week. They volunteer their time, usually two hours a day, and are the lifeblood of community radio. It is through these volunteers and the programs that they broadcast that one million Guatemalans receive information. Germán Xet told us that, “The workshop helped me do a better job when I’m on the air at the radio station, which will help all the listeners in my town.” Demonstrating the success of our train-the-trainers model, seven of the trainers who taught workshops this year are graduates of Cultural Survival trainings from 2007 and 2008.