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PCI-Media Impact, a New York-based non-profit with 25 years experience using communications for development, is initiating its sixth year of the My Community program on November 2 with an international training on Entertainment Education and Social Marketing in Lima, Peru.

 The 32 selected participants – including radio hosts, journalists, community activists, and professors– representing Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, will participate in a five-day  hands-on training  and learn how to design, produce and broadcast entertaining radio soap operas that address urgent community needs.

“This year’s training promises to be one of the best,” said Media Impact Programs Director, Sean Southey.  “Between staff, community activists and media leaders, and representatives of current My Community coalitions, we will have representatives from  leading NGOs and grassroots social movements in Latin America coming together to discuss how to create global changes beginning at the local level.”

Media Impact received applications from more than 40 coalitions hoping to participate in the training, of which the top 11 were invited to attend.  After successfully completing the Entertainment Education training, coalitions are then eligible to apply to produce their own radio campaigns. 

During the past twenty-five years, Media Impact has worked with local partners worldwide to produce educational, culturally sensitive radio and television serial dramas that combine the power of storytelling with the reach of broadcast media to address social issues in developing countries.  For the past five years, this approach to social change has centered on the 8 to 12 annual My Community projects.

“We are really excited to meet and train the new coalitions,” says Mike Castlen, Media Impact Executive Director.  “They bring issues to the table that affect their daily lives, like child prostitution, discrimination against indigenous populations, and domestic violence.  We can help them address these heavy issues in an entertaining, effective way.  My Community thrives on this strong local buy-in; our partners develop communications strategies that are enriched by their in-depth cultural understanding and vested interest in driving local change.”

The current My Community projects address a variety of sexual and reproductive health and environmental issues plaguing developing nations.  Most recently, successful projects have addressed rising HIV prevalence rates in Central America, deforestation of rural areas in South America and the importance of demanding civil rights and civic engagement. 

This year, the training will feature a presentation by My Community partner, Asociación Comunicares, a coalition that has, for the past two years, produced a youth-run radio drama, “The Intruder.”  The group will discuss their successful experience leveraging local resources to scale up a community-level program to a national campaign. 

“Comunicares has been a strong partner over the past two years, and we are excited for them to share their experiences with the new coalitions,” says Queta Valdez, Media Impact Programs Officer for Central America.  “Showing the impact their campaign has had will give workshop participants a taste of what they can accomplish in their own communities, and a sense of how effective Entertainment Education tools are in achieving social change.”

To follow the training and receive daily updates, please visit Media Impact’s Facebook Fan Page or its Twitter page.

Activists from the Camp for Climate Action setup an impromptu casino within the front gates of the European Climate Exchange at Bishopsgate, London. Photograph: Amy Scaife/PA

Environmental activists from the Climate Camp protest today launched their first direct action in the City of London since setting up a temporary base in a park overlooking Docklands and Canary Warf.

Around a dozen people from the group, who yesterday took over part of Blackheath common in the south-east of London, occupied the entrance to the Climate Exchange on Bishopsgate.

Wearing evening dresses and dinner suits, the protestors unrolled a Climate Change Casino board along with fake banknotes and over-sized playing cards in the columned entrance gate to the exchange's courtyard.

Staff were not prevented from entering or leaving, and – in keeping with promises for a "community-style" approach at the Climate Camp following complaints of heavy-handed and violent policing during April's G20 – officers from the City of London force made no initial attempt to break the event up.

Activists stood on the pavement outside the exchange, yelling, "Roll up to the Climate Change Casino!" bringing the occasional toot of support from cars, but mainly looks of bafflement from passing office workers.

Leila Deen, one of the protesters, who is best known for throwing green custard over Peter Mandelson as an anti-airport expansion stunt, said this year's Climate Camp had long planned to target the exchange.

"I think a lot of people inside here believe they're doing something good for the environment, but our message is that they're not," she said. "Too many governments are using carbon trading as an excuse not to cut emissions. People are making a lot of money on this, but nothing is really being done."

Up to 2,000 people are expected to stay at the Climate Camp site at any one time from now until the end of Tuesday, when it closes. Volunteers spent much of yesterday unpacking tents, marquees, composting toilets and communal kitchens from trucks to cope with the numbers.

As well as a base for direct action, the camp is intended to be a focal point for activists to meet and exchange information and learn protest techniques. It is also intended as a place where local people and the curious can see environmental methods at work, and how a community can organise itself in a non-hierarchical way, with decisions taken by consensus.