Toma Mi Mano Begins Broadcast in Guatemala

Population Media Center (PMC), an international nonprofit that creates hit entertainment to address the rights of women and girls and environmental sustainability, just launched a new Spanish radio show in Guatemala. The 156-episode show will broadcast from now until September 2019 and will address reproductive health and teen pregnancy, rape and gender-based violence, and gang violence. PMC has partnered with the Guatemalan advertising agency Lafabrica&Jotabequ, subsidiary of GREY International, to promote and create the show.

Toma Mi Mano (“Take My Hand”) follows PMC’s methodology for entertainment that delivers social and individual change on very personal issues. Broadcast began on March 5th, but an important launch event with members of the advisory committee, the press, and other associated guests took place on February 22nd to bring the fictional town of San Juan Renacimiento to life.

The morning sun filtered through the glass domed roof as attendees visited the fictional storefronts representing the different parts of the town center. At different stores, attendees listened to stories through headphones, got their pictures taken, or found themselves laughing beside the pen of content neighborhood goats that munched fastidiously on hay.

As everyone sat down to breakfast, the emcees prepared attendees to be transported to San Juan Renacimiento and asked everyone to close their eyes and put on the Toma Mi Mano sleep masks. The story began to play and attendees began to learn about the characters and the lives that will unfold in San Juan Renacimiento over the next year and a half.

It’s in this fictional town that Alex will have to decide if he’ll pursue the future he wants, even if it means turning his back on his only family. It’s where Esperanza, raising her beautiful granddaughter, will have to see if she can make sure history doesn’t repeat itself. It’s where Jefferson will have to decide if his relationship with his father is more important than the well-being of his wife and daughter. And it’s here that Ruth will have to decide if she should put herself in harm’s way to protect her sister from a man she knows is a sexual predator.

“We have developed communication strategies for different NGOs and the way PMC approaches the topics and the methodology was fascinating,” said Natalia Cereser, Director of Professional Services of Lafábrica&jotabequ. “We both will bring this radio play together that could change lives in Guatemala in a totally different way.”

The project’s advisory committee includes organizations such as Plan International, Planned Parenthood Global, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), ASOGEN, and ALAS (Fundacion América Latina en Acción Solidaria). The project funders include the Weeden Foundation and the Erik and Edith Bergstrom Foundation.

“We are delighted with this alliance, the natural overlap in the previous work of La Fábrica,” said Wendi Stein, Program Manager for PMC-Guatemala. “Their understanding of the market and their talented team will contribute to a new radio program that will help to improve the lives of some of the people in most need in Guatemala.”