Crafting Messages for Women and Peacebuilding is a five-day workshop based on the basic principles of feminist development communications that women are the source and producers of their own knowledge. Following a one-year action research that surfaced the strength, resilience and challenges of women grassroots community leaders in a few barangays of Pikit, North Cotabato the Isis-CPCP Facilitation team designed this workshop that explores the transformative potential of communication tools such as theatre, radio and visual arts for the women to communicate with. At the end of the five-day workshop they were able to talk about their strengths and aspirations as women leaders in various sites of their lives through short theatre pieces; the support they need and draw from in their everyday life through radio; and lastly the importance of participation, protection and upholding women's rights basic ingredients to peacebuilding – developed through posters.

Women Making Airwaves for Peace

February 13-18, 2010

Mysore, India

Women Making Airwaves for Peace is composed of experience sharing, skills sharing and radio productions. The participants are resource persons, trainers, trainees and radio journalists at the same time.

Isis International is training SEWA (Self Employed Women's Association) members in radio production and radio management August 17 - 26, 2009 in Ahmedabad, India.

The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters, AMARC Asia Pacific conducted 2nd training program on Community Radio Management and Advanced Radio Production Training for the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), India. The ten days long training was conducted by Bianca Miglioretto, Isis International and Divya Wesley, Voices, India. SEWA received its community radio permit in June, 2009 and plans to launch Rudino Radio of SEWA Academy in Manipur in September 2009.

Participants learnt how to develop a democratic structure of the radio, programme schedule, code of conduct, including gender policy and editorial guidelines as well as the drafting of action plans. The training program included three days of production techniques, with focus on radio jingle and radio drama production, including digital editing with FOSS software Audacity.

In addition to the training on setting up and running of a community radio station, a training of trainers (ToT) was organised for trainers from SEWA. It covered effective learning methods to preparing and conducting radio trainings for the future SEWA community radio volunteers.

All pictures by SEWA Academy

The project is under Governance and Public Administration Reform (GPAR) programme of UNDP in Sekong Province in the South of Laos. In order to improve communication in the rural district of Thateng, GPAR Sekong plans among other measures to set up a district community radio station.

The Isis consultant Bianca Miglioretto co-facilitated a two day strategic planing workshop with village people for the establishment of the radio and a three day radio programme production workshop for future broadcast volunteers of the Thateng Ethnic Community Radio for Development. Further she reviewed the list of equipment put together by GPAR and gave her recommendations on what equipment to acquire.

Photos by Isis International and GPAR Sekong

IDRC's PAN ALL 2009 CONFERENCE, Penang, Malaysia. 12-14 June, 2009.

Canadian International Development Research Centre organized 3rd PAN (PAN Asia Networking) All partners' conference which brought together its research partners in the Asian region. More than 150 participants, including project and sub-project leads, representatives from PAN research networks, key regional practitioners and researchers, evaluators, donors and relevant IDRC staff attended the conference held at Wawasan Open University (WOU).

Isis International participated as partner of IDRC for the PC4D (People's Communication for Development) research. The Isis community radio officer Bianca Miglioretto attended the conference and conducted a Learning Clinic titled "Blow Up the Volume! Creative audio packaging of your message into radio spots"

ALL Photos by Suchit Nanda, compliment to Suchit Nanda Photography: http://photos.suchit.in

Held for the first time in Asia, the International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society (IASSCS) launched its VII conference entitled Contested Innocence: Sexual Agency in Public and Private Space. It was said that the concept of 'innocence', often used to describe female sexuality, needed to be challenged, among other fundamental assumptions about sexual relations and societies.

Isis is hoping to share these positive images of women as rendered by chosen Filipino/a artists free for anyone to use in publications and productions as long as it is for non-commercial purposes.