Perhaps the most successful of all the national culture of peace programs undertaken by UNESCO during the 1990’s was the radio services for non-formal education and information for the women of El Salvador. The radio programs provided non-formal education, information and counselling on different problems that women face in their daily lives, including contributing to the elimination of the various forms of discrimination and violence suffered by poor women. The initiative played a major role in assuring a transition to peace in that country following its bitter civil war.
The initiative received a comprehensive evaluation, from which the following quotations are taken.
Broadcasts took place on six national radio stations with an estimated audience of more than one million listeners and 15 stations with regional coverage operating in ail provinces with an average of about 300,000 listeners each.
In addition to the reception via individual radios, in many market places loud speakers were set up which constantly transmit radio programmes, including “Buenos Tiempos Mujer”, to the visitors of the market place.
The radio programs were accompanied by education campaigns that reached 14,000 women. Evaluation surveys found that twelve per cent of the persons interviewed listen continuously to the radio-shows 47 per cent occasionally, and 42 per cent never. Thus, it can be concluded, that the radio shows and the education campaigns complement each other for the majority of participants.
Most women talked about the contents of the seminars with friends and neighbours, and to some extent also with their husbands. The subjects which provoked most discussions were “equal rights”, followed by “self-esteem” for the women and “better treatment of women” for the men, issues which were rarely dealt with by mass media before.
Ninety-three per cent of men and 89 per cent of women interviewed confirmed that they had learnt something in the campaigns which helped them to change for better in their private life. The issues mentioned were in the order of importance: defending rights, better communication in family relations, increasing self-awareness, division of labour in the household, and self-esteem.
According to the conclusion of the evaluation, the project contributed to make the concepts of culture of peace and of gender equality accepted or at least tolerated in large parts of the society.
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