Image: Unión de Mujeres Aymaras de Abya Yala (UMA), in southern Peru.

DW Akademie has brought a beehive into the digital world. Local newsrooms are using a new open source software called Colmena – the Spanish word for “beehive”. To keep afloat during the pandemic, community media need innovative digital platforms that are free to use and don’t need a license.

Colmena is still in the test phase. DW Akademie is working with 12 local media outlets and organizations in Latin America and Africa. The software gives them a tool to make them more resilient in a time of crisis. Colmena is geared to the needs of media production workflows. As a result, local media are actively involved in developing Colmena.

What is the software changing for media workers in the Global South?