The Future of Media is Local

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Congratulations to one of our incredible projects, Alive-In, for receiving a grant from the US Embassy and Consulates in Brazil to build community through podcasting. Alive-In believes that the future of media is local and works in communities around the world to amplify the stories of local journalists and individuals reporting on their lived experiences. 

Alive-In recently received a large-scale grant from the US Embassy and Consulates in Brazil to pioneer their podcast training program, Nossa Vida Quilombola, with Quilombola communities in Brazil. Brazil’s Quilombola community is often under-represented in the global civil discourse.Though they represent a small numerical proportion of Brazil’s Afro-descendant population, Quilombos hold an outsized emotional significance for the nation at large, as symbols of resistance and as repositories of cultural heritage. Quilombos Traditional Ecological Knowledge is now eyed as a marketable asset as food, energy, and resource industries seek solutions to tough sustainability problems in an environment increasingly beset by climate-change induced stresses.

Alive-In’s Nossa Vida Quilombola, or “This Quilombola Life” program seeks to amplify Quilombo perspectives. The podcast series that results from the program will highlight these communities’ rich artistic, culinary, and ecological heritage while strengthening capacity to advocate for Quilombo interests in Brazilian society. 

More of Alive-In’s work

Alive-in has been working directly with journalists in Afghanistan to safely publish their stories. They produce stories about the daily lives of Afghans, with a special focus on women’s issues, climate change, and Afghan culture and traditions. Alive in Afghanistan is amplifying the voices of women and marginalized communities by employing reporters from these communities and increasing their capacity to produce compelling, inspiring, and positive stories. They do this by creating safe ways for women journalists to publish their work, staffing their teams with more than 60% women reporters and focusing on provinces which are typically missing from media coverage. 

During their first 18 months, the Alive in Afghanistan team published 186 stories from 31 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. The team has 8 staff reporters and 21 freelancers from all across the country. They publish 3 original stories per week in 3 different languages, and are reaching approximately half a million Afghans every week on Facebook.

Impact Metrics

How You Can Help

If you care about the work that Alive-in is doing, read their work below and share their stories with your community. To donate to the project, click here ››

Camel herder spends at least half a year herding the animals in the deserts of southwestern Afghanistan’s Nimroz province. READ

A woman in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan has opened the province’s first bookstore aiming to promote the culture of reading. READ

Small, agricultural-based businesses are suffering the impact of Afghanistan’s economic crisis and the persistent drought. READ