PAPER The Drum Beat - 21 - COLOMBIA - CISALVA

1) The first component was a survey. 6000 people were surveyed in 1996 with the central interest of determining which are the attitudes, behaviours and abilities that the citizens of Cali frequently use in the resolution of conflict situations. 1500 surveys were applied in the Comunas 13 ad 20 in Cali; 1500 in the rest of the city; and 3000 surveys in five other cities in the country : Bogotá, Bucaramanaga, Barranquilla, Medellín and Pereira.

2) The second component is the ethnographic and epidemiology studies, which suplied all the rigorous anthropological and sociological infomation and the cases of positive conflict resolution , and

3) the third component is the communication strategy "Mejor hablemos"

a) how to "insert" the concept of conviviality (convivencia) in an innovative way, coming from the communities in need, and who were asking themselves for change, and

b) how to develop dialogue and communication abilities on conflict resolution within the community leaders. The book " Cali, tras el rostro oculto de las violencias" is one of the results of this investigation, where the interpretation of hard data led to local stories , testimonies of the "actors" involved in violent behaviour, and an insight into the possible solutions to be developed

a) an introduction to the specific theme written a by a community leader or inhabitant . Themes range from how the barrios perceive violence in Cali, bullying in school, youth gangsterism, sexual abuse inside families, intramarital violence, heavy drinking and arms use, conflict resolution in sports' situation, etc. The "editorial page" also has all the relevant telephone numbers of institutions that deal with violence in the city ;

b) the central two pages always portray a "photonovela" , called "real stories" (Historias Reales), which in a very simple way narrates a real case story of conflict and its peaceful resolution, sometimes with institutional help, but always with the main concept of dialogue and conversation as the way to prevent conflict. This pages invites the reader to listen to real life stories of conviviality thru the eight mass media allied to the project , and also stimulates people to write and sed their own "historias de convivencia" .

c) the back page is an open space for the community to write, called la Comunidad Habla, "The Community Talks" , which includes essays, interviews with leaders, description of local projects, practical information on development and health issues, intreviews done by the community to city institutions. The target audience is the community of two marginal areas in Cali, the Comunas 13 and 20 ( which group several "barrios" (boroughs)). The distribution of the 10,000 bulletin is done via alliances with the barrio associations and leaders, and dialogue and debate is pursued via audiofora, radio fora, which are workshops accompanied by tapes and booklets. The other distribution mechanism , which has been very succcesfully evaluated, is what CISALVA denominates natural spaces for dialogue. CISALVA was looking for dialogue-led process, not an imposed-message process. They researched with the community, hoping to identify the vehicles that were most efficient : corner shop sellers and beauty parlour hairdressers were shortlisted as the best "carriers" of conversation and gossip, leaders of the most appropiate environments for two-way dialogue and sharing of stories . 180 very charismatic "natural leaders" were trained and constitute crucial players in the change process.