From nationwide lockdowns during the pandemic to internet shutdowns to poor network connections: Producing timely content remains a major challenge for many local and community newsrooms. Colmena – which means beehive in Spanish – is a digital toolbox for editorial teams which also works offline. Since 2024, DW Akademie and its partner organizations Tanda.net, Cambá and REDES A.C. have been providing the software, while the beta version has already been available for two years.
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A glance in the beehive: How community media in Latin America and Africa work with the Colmena app
Strong together: Pod´Da-lhe, Brazil
The Brazilian collective Jovem Tapajônico’s podcast initiative Pod’Da-lhe focuses on rainforest preservation. They use Colmena’s audio recording tool for interviews with women and indigenous youth so that the river communities can reflect on their societies. At the same time, the content can be shared with other community media in the blink of an eye.
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A glance in the beehive: How community media in Latin America and Africa work with the Colmena app
Investigative, diverse, feminist: Muy Waso, Bolivia
Muy Waso is the first online magazine of its kind in Bolivia, reaching a broad audience across borders with its reports and podcasts. Colmena combines the necessary steps to do this: pulling articles together, recording audio and processing as a team. This also enables broad participation and diversity in the production process. For co-founder Michelle Nogales, this is "journalism’s future."
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A glance in the beehive: How community media in Latin America and Africa work with the Colmena app
A voice for everyone: La Voix du Paysan, Burkina Faso
The community radio La Voix du Paysan is more than just "a voice for farmers." It's a central gathering place for regional information. The program centers on what is important to the rural population. Colmena enables expanding the range of topics even more: the station uses the app for exchanging material and mutual production with its partner station Radio Vénégré.
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A glance in the beehive: How community media in Latin America and Africa work with the Colmena app
Programs for young and old: Radio Vénégré, Burkina Faso
In Burkina Faso, even the village chief (seated) has become a radio producer. "We all work on the shows at Radio Vénégré," says program director Awa Ouedraogo. Editing has been too complicated, she says, so developing an editing program for cell phones was really important. With Colmena, she can now share interview excerpts more effectively via the mobile Internet.
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A glance in the beehive: How community media in Latin America and Africa work with the Colmena app
Against forgetting: Unión de Mujeres Aymaras del Abya Yala (UMA), Peru
"We want to preserve our language," says Yeny Paucar. The women living in the Aymara community have been learning how to use new communication technology for 34 years so as to share their culture far and wide. Radio plays an important role. Paucar and her colleagues use Colmena to record their stories in their language, editing and sharing the content using a simple cellphone.
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A glance in the beehive: How community media in Latin America and Africa work with the Colmena app
Church radio for everyone: Radio Amani, Kenya
The Catholic community radio station Radio Amani wants to be there for everyone in Nakuru County, and also to mirror its diversity. The opinions voiced in the programming are just as diverse as the music. As part of the Colmena network, the radio producers can access a databank of license free music which is implemented and managed by the users.
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A glance in the beehive: How community media in Latin America and Africa work with the Colmena app
Radio like a bouquet: Pwani FM, Kenya
Pwani FM has it all: from youth radio to classic news programming to live Bango music shows. The diversity is limitless, not unlike Colmena’s features, which the team use for production and communication. With easy use in the Kiswahili language, the moderators Ken1GB and Gates Mgenge are able to finalize things quickly.
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A glance in the beehive: How community media in Latin America and Africa work with the Colmena app
Local language on the World Wide Web: Radio Ada, Ghana
Every day, Olivia Serwa Waree from Radio Ada in Ghana translates international news to the local language, Dangme. "I especially want to meet the needs of women from the communities," she says. She uses the Colmena toolbox to put content on social media platforms.
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A glance in the beehive: How community media in Latin America and Africa work with the Colmena app
Always on site and close to the people: Radio Nefzawa, Tunisia
Radio Nefzawa broadcasts out of Kebili, a remote region in Tunisia, and is also experimenting with video formats. The demand for independent information is big. In order to collaborate with community reporters, they use Colmena. The automatic upload via the cloud server makes it easy to share their stories from the rural outskirts directly with the station.
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A glance in the beehive: How community media in Latin America and Africa work with the Colmena app
Open to the world and new channels: Radio Sayaxché, Guatemala
The local station Radio Sayaxché is very interested in exchanging programs with community media from other regions and countries and trying out new formats on different channels. Colmena enables the radio's staff to broadcast content independently, as well as to share that with team members and to work more easily together – and this despite weak internet connections in the Amazon region.
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A glance in the beehive: How community media in Latin America and Africa work with the Colmena app
Impulses within and outward: Radio Rahma, Kenya
Radio Rahma broadcasts live out of Mombasa and provides the region with current podcasts. Colmena supports the team in its work, allowing them to exchange knowledge and ideas, and not just internally, but rather with other radio stations, too. Colmena increases the possibilities for the station to connect within and outside the region, and the digital cooperation leads to new impulses.
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A glance in the beehive: How community media in Latin America and Africa work with the Colmena app
Unheard stories: Podpreta, Brazil
In northern Brazil, Rejane and her colleagues Quezia, Lica and Janna record podcasts. As Podpreta, they use Colmena as a production tool. It helps them to better coordinate and to be able to work virtually. With the audio recording tool, they give a voice to Black women in the Amazon region and report on their little known realities of life.
Local media can produce stories on the go with Colmena: From recording and editing to file sharing and publishing. Just like in a physical newsroom, every feature on the app can be collaborative. The app has been developed for many end devices, is secure and free of charge. Colmena is available in five languages: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Ukrainian. If required, the menus, manuals and explanatory videos can also be quickly translated into other languages. Colmena is 100% open source and is therefore open to anyone who wants to contribute to its further development.
Radio Ada in Ghana, which broadcasts in the local language Dangme, was also involved in the development of Colmena
