By Felipe Sakamoto, from the Observatory
In September, a Communicators Meeting for Civil Society for the Defence of Rights was held in São Paulo. Over five days, activities were run to regulate, organize and disseminate content production about human rights, and participant exchanges regarding experiences and social mobilization alternatives also took place.
Twenty communicators from social organizations and movements were selected from a number of regions. Fifteen representatives associated with ABONG and five strategic partners undertook to run face-to-face communication workshops in their respective regions.
Furthermore, participants in the face-to-face meeting supported mobilizations for the distance learning (DL) course “Communication and Political Advocacy” linked to the São Paulo event. The DL Course will take place between 26/09 and 28/11. Content available online focuses on the potential of social networks, creating partnerships, using new tools, as well as topics such as mobilization and social engagement, media advocacy and relationships with the press and media.
The aim of the online course is to support the training of professionals who work in Civil Society Organizations in order to improve their communication practices so that “communications become a key part of social resistance, particularly in a context in which communications from social movements have not reached the mass of the Brazilian population, which continues to be disoriented by the corporate media” as described in the course introduction.
These activities are part of the “Civil Society Constructing Democratic Resistance” project funded by the European Union. In a context of political crisis, with an agenda to dismantle human rights policies, such as the labour reform, and threats to indigenous lands, social movements and civil society organizations are growing and pressurizing the State to guarantee a decent life for its citizens. The initiative seeks to support such organizations as a response to this context. One of its objectives is policy training, through courses and the creation of a communicators’ network capable of representing the field in Brazil.