Vida nueva XEYT Program and Las Campesinas Unidas of Veracruz

’Las Campesinas Unidas’ de Veracruz is based in the central region of the state of Veracruz, located on Mexico’s east coast. The group produces 5 hours of radio programs weekly on XEYT Radio Cultural Campesina in Teocelo, provides training workshops, and organises discussion groups to initiate concrete projects by and for campesina women in the region.

OBJECTIVES: To organize women, raise consciousness about sexist attitudes in the society, to discuss the causes of social and economic problems.

METHODS: The organization produces an hour-long daily program called Vida Nueva (New Life). The show deals with issues such as violence against women, garbage disposal and the environment, nutrition, human rights, and health. Women from Teocelo and surrounding municipalities meet to determine which themes will be discussed, and they meet informally with campesina women to collect material for the program.

Las Campesinas Unidas de Veracruz uses radio to support its other projects as well. Some of these include: training workshops on cultivating and preparing soya; sewing workshops where women can produce clothes for their families and for sale; on raising goats for milk, and on traditional medicine, using plants that grow in the region. The group also plays a coordinating role in meetings and activities in the southeastern part of the country.

EVALUATION: Over 5 years ago, Las Campesinas Unidas did a project whereby it distributed milk to women and their children. They realized that the activity was not participatory, and did not serve to mobilize women. It created dependence. The activities that they organize now work much better as a way of getting people to find their own ways to fulfull their own needs.