By Clara Machado
Limited internet access is a reality for most rural communities in the Amazon, and in Mid-Juruá is no different. Despite this difficulty, Instituto Juruá held two remote courses throughout 2021 with the residents of Reserva Extrativista of Mid-Juruá and Reserva de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Uacari. The first course, on “Socioenvironmental Educommunication Practices Applied to the Promotion of Sustainable Development in Amazonia”, was held in partnership with Embrapa, and the second one, on “Project Elaboration” is available on our YouTube channel.
Internet access was set up via hubs with wifi in different communities, the meetings took place synchronously, and the communication was made via Transmission Channels on Whatsapp. At the end of those courses, these Transmission Channels remained active, functioning as a means of communication between participants to share doubts, opportunities, tools, and tips.
As a result of the course on Educomunication, the channel “Comunicadores of Mid-Juruá” emerged, where opportunities, courses, and tools for communication are shared. Instituto Juruá’s team offers tips on social network management and invites everyone to participate in the construction of the newsletter editions with texts, news, poems, and interviews.
In addition to this channel, we also have “Assistance in Projects”, a result of actions taken in the “Project Elaboration Course”, where open notices and questions about the construction of proposals are shared, and where the monitoring of the demands of notices already approved is carried out. In this way, access to the internet can be a huge challenge, however, as far as possible, it is circumvented with the use of accessible platforms that facilitate communication and allow rural communities to express and present themselves, and to enjoy the possibilities brought by digital media.
