Project - Wangki Tangni

Wangki Tangni
www.madre.org/page/nicaragua-combating-violence-against-women-469.html

Read the final report on the distribution of the radios and the progress of the program.

Miskito women and girls living in remote communities of the Waspam region of Nicaragua face epidemic rates of violence including physical and sexual violence within the family, rape, incest, murder, and trafficking; with 85% of sexual violence crimes committed against girls under 14 years of age. In addition, Miskito women and girls often are not aware of their rights or that violence against them is a punishable crime. Even where such awareness exists, they face challenges accessing and navigating the justice system. As a result, the majority of abuses go unreported, legal action is not taken and perpetrators are not prosecuted, leading to a culture of impunity.

This grant will help establish a community radio station and equip communities with solar-powered radios to be able to deliver information about women's rights and how women and girls survivors of violence can access legal and medical services. The project will aid in broadcasting radio programs on a weekly basis (48/year) on three stations, in both Spanish and Miskito, the local Indigenous language. The radio programs will also cover topics such as children's rights, women's health, the justice system, gender relations, and the role of masculinity and engaging men and boys to end violence against women.

Miskito women and girls from these 115 communities constitute the primary beneficiaries of the project. The estimate is that, on average, 30 women and girls per community will participate in the weekly radio broadcasts, for a total of 3,450 direct beneficiaries.

The initial group of women who participated in the workshop commented that learning more about their rights and the route to justice was effective in preventing violence. They requested additional programming in their Indigenous Miskito language and are now eager to develop skills to operate the radio station and share their knowledge. The radio station project will serve as a tool to disseminate information about women's rights, access to legal and medical services and the need to change the status quo of gender relations.

This project will equip the participating communities with solar-powered radios to enable them to listen to the weekly women's rights programming. In addition to being environmentally friendly, solar-powered radios are the most effective device as electricity in local communities is either non-existent or unreliable. Programming topics such as: physical and psychological violence, domestic violence vs. public violence, the legal framework for women's rights, how to report cases of violence, how to navigate Nicaragua's justice system, how to access legal and medical support services, the role of masculinity and culture, how men and boys can prevent violence in their communities, children's rights, women's health, and economic empowerment, will be the initial agenda. The grant will help communications trainings for Wangki Tangni women's rights promoters to ensure they have the operational skills they need to operate a radio station (i.e. how to use digital recorders, conduct interviews, use adequate messaging). These 48 programs will be drafted on women's rights and the eradication of gender based violence.