Strategies to Strengthen the Pisbi and Potón Languages in El Salvador Through Community Engagement

Photo provided by CCNIS and published with permission.

This is the fifth update about our project, a beneficiary of the micro-grants for indigenous language digital activism. The grantees who are part of this initiative write articles highlighting their progress.

Although the Nahuat language is widely used in the western part of El Salvador due to the efforts that have strengthened its continuity and use by the Nahua Pipil people, this is not the case for the indigenous languages of the Lenca and Kakawira peoples.

The process initiated by the Salvadoran National Coordinating Indigenous Council (CCNIS) for the strengthening of the Pisbi and Potón languages is part of an indigenous national communication strategy focused on strengthening the cultural identity and in which community outreach is an important component.

That is why challenges must be confronted within the community organizational structures, during a learning process in which the elders are essential for the transmission of languages, knowledge, and wisdom to the youth of these two Indigenous Peoples. It is also important to create the necessary conditions to initiate this process, which involves the reproduction of the learning booklets, their delivery to the community, and the development of a methodology that is culturally appropriate for teaching and strengthening the cultural identity of each Indigenous People.

Photo provided by CCNIS and published with permission.

The CCNIS appreciates the support of the Rising Voices initiative which contributes greatly to the starting of processes created within the community and which will be replicated in the territories according to the respective Indigenous People, and a similar process will begin for the Nahuat Pipil people.

Photo provided by CCNIS and published with permission.

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