The Surviving Memory in Postwar El Salvador research team offers regular training and capacity-building workshops for community members to strengthen their involvement in our collaborative memory work and ensure the sustainability of our projects over time. Led by professors, postdocs, graduate students, community leaders, and practitioners, the training from 2021 to 2024 has focused on digitization and preservation, filmmaking, community curation, climate change awareness, mental health and healing, and economic development. As of October 2024, more than 550 community members have completed training certificates through Surviving Memory’s initiatives. Surviving Memory training certificates are presented by the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at Western University, Mount Allison University, and Aarhus University.

Since 2021, Giada Ferrucci (Postdoc, Western) has worked to enhance community archival practices through Preservation and Digitization training workshops at Centro Arte para la Paz, regional offices of CRIPDES, and various rural districts, including San José las Flores, Las Vueltas, and El Higueral, with a total of 203 participants by September 2022. These workshops not only preserve community memory but also foster healing by recognizing and documenting historical narratives.

Adriana Alas (Postdoc, Western) worked with Ulises Unda (Collaborator) and Liz Sutherland (Collaborator) to co-facilitated training workshops on Curatorial and Collaborative Methodologies and Story Maps, involving 117 participants (2022-2024). Alas also co-led two Filmmaking training workshops with documentary filmmaker, Christian Figueroa (Collaborator), with rural youth and women. Alas’ emphasis on community storytelling and participatory methods enriches the project’s commitment to documentation, intergenerational education, and cultural resilience.

Alejandra Aguilar (Ph.D. Student, Western) focused on mental health and youth engagement through her Mindful Social Innovation Labs for rural youth and Mental Health workshops at Casa Museo Jon Cortina, reaching 42 participants (2023-2024). These workshops emphasize the importance of youth voices in community healing and mental well-being, creating a bridge between mental health initiatives and community engagement. Similarly, Aguilar and Giada Ferrucci co-organized our Mental Health Conferencein Arcatao (2023), which involved 45 participants in discussions centered on trauma and community healing.

José Agustin García (Collaborator) led Climate Change workshops in San José Las Flores and Chalatenango, with a total of 48 participants (2022-2023), addressing environmental challenges and promote awareness of adaptation strategies. This theme of environmental consciousness is further echoed in Morgan Poteet's Photovoice workshops and Intergenerational Dialogues, which involved 47 participants (2020-2024). These activities intertwine social memory with environmental issues, illustrating how personal and community stories are linked to broader ecological narratives.

Alain Carreterro (Denmark) led Vulnerability and Resilience: Two Complementary Approaches capacity-building workshops with CCR (Partner), which brought together 12 participants in May 2023. Carreterro also led the Ethnobotany and the Human-Nature Relationship workshop at the University of El Salvador, which involved 25 participants in May 2023. Both workshops addressed the relationship between the community and its environment, strengthening resilience, and local knowledge.

Joel Martínez Lorenzana (Ph.D. Candidate, Western) led community workshops in Music Creation and Music Archive Design with 11 participants (2023), which aimed to cultivate cultural expression through music, reinforcing community ties and identity while complementing the narrative-building efforts of other workshops.

Vladimir Pacheco (Professor, Aarhus) led workshops on Financial Literacy and Local Economic Development Strategies, which involved 28 participants (2022-2023) and focused on economically empowering community members, linking directly to the overarching goal of sustainable development.

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