Guatemala - Jach b'al Re Loq' b'al K'u'x

PCI-Media Impact is produced a weekly radio drama “Jach b'al Re Loq' b'al K'u'x” (The Love Recycles), broadcast in Q’eqchi (Mayan language), in El Quiche, Totonicapán, Quetzaltenango, Huehuetenango, San Marcos and Cobán, Guatemala in 2007. This program produced with Asociación Juventud K’iche’ and Health Unlimited aimed to promote recycling, local waste management policies, commercial opportunities for youth, and income generation from recycling inorganic waste material.

Overview of Waste Management Issue in Guatemala -

• The amount of waste allocated per day in the municipal dump in Guatemala City is around 900 tons
• On average, a person in Guatemala City produces 0.727 kilogram of garbage daily
• It is estimated there are 1,000 illegal solid waste dumps in Guatemala City
• Industries and people living by the river banks have converted the rivers into clandestine garbage dumps

Source: CEPAL and Prensa Libre

The Broadcast

Broadcast - “Paisana Stereo” 90.5 FM and 97.5 FM, from April 2007 – October 2007. Program consisted of:

• Radio Drama – 24 episodes, 8 minutes each
• Radio talk show– 24 episodes, 30 minutes weekly

Target and Coverage - Youth ages 7-18 in six municipalities in Guatemala: El Quiche, Totonicapán, Quetzaltenango, Huehuetenango, San Marcos and Cobán.

Radio Drama Plot - Chelly and her father, Don Tavaro, work in the countryside cultivating different products. They start recycling inorganic materials and also involving their friends and neighbors in this activity.

Radio Drama Characters

• Chelly: 18, low income, she wants to improve her father’s farm in order to earn more money and be able to study in Guatemala City.
• Don Tavo: Chelly’s father, he becomes ill after working his entire lifetime on his farm. People think he’s crazy because he talks to his crops.
• Sargenta Agapita: She works in the City Hall of El Quiche and is in love with the major, who doesn’t care about the city. However, tired of the major’s abuses, she decides to make a positive change in the City Hall administration.
• Xewa: 18, local farmer. He’s in love with Chelly, but because she doesn’t pay attention to him, he will do anything to ruin her plans.

Our Methodology and Training

For this project, PCI-Media Impact is training community based organizations, such as Asociación Juventud K’iche’ and Health Unlimited, and local broadcasters to use our EE methodology to promote health provider services.

Our international consultants train these local partners focusing on:

• Education – Entertainment methodology (radio production, script and acting)
• Program monitoring and evaluation (quantitative and qualitative impact)
• In addition, PCI-Media Impact supported a cleanup campaign in San Pedro with the participation of more than 100 children.