We are a media organization that empowers, supports, and connects voices throughout Costa Rica and Latin America—especially in rural areas—through solutions journalism. That’s how we’re changing the conversation about the problems of our country and region.

Solutions Journalism in
Costa Rica and Latin America

El Colectivo 506 is an independent media outlet founded in Costa Rica in 2020 by a group of women passionate about community journalism. We’re the first national media organization in Central America to focus on solutions journalism.

Our bilingüal (English/Spanish) digital magazine has published more than 43 in-depth editions on problems and community responses. Our Latin American Solutions Journalism Fund offers training, production grants, and mentorship for journalists throughout the region.

Solutions journalism seeks to go beyond calling out problems: it also showcases concrete and proven responses. “SoJo” studies not only what’s been achieved, but also the response’s limitations.

It is investigative journalism that brings hope.

What is Solutions Journalism?

Fund for Solutions Journalism

El Colectivo 506 AI use policy

At El Colectivo 506, we never use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to replace the work of journalists, writers, photographers, columnists, and creatives. Their direct, authentic self-expression is at the heart of our mission. In other words: every story on our site has been created for you by a human. Any exceptions whatsoever for specific elements within a story will be clearly labeled, justified, and explained.

We do use Artificial Intelligence (AI) for transcription, translation, and video captions; initial research for a story, such as compiling and summarizing documents; some administrative tasks; and some story summaries for social media. Our free, trilingual solutions journalism pitch development chatbot, luzlab.org, uses AI (further information available on the Luz Lab site).

We are exploring the use of AI to create summaries or shorter versions of our original stories so that the hard work of our journalists can reach more audiences. Anything created by AI for these purposes is reviewed by a human before publication.

The environmental cost of AI is a major concern for us. We acknowledge the energy demands associated with training and deploying large-scale AI systems. We minimize our use of generative AI, particularly for audiovisual creation; prioritizing efficient tools; advocating transparency from vendors and AI companies; and committing to learn more as a team about how we can best reduce our negative environmental impact. Please contact us at katherine@elcolectivo506.com with any questions, comments, or suggestions.

The Founders

Katherine Stanley Obando

Co-founder and editor-in-chief

Katherine is a journalist, editor and author who has made her home in Costa Rica since 2004. She is the co-founder of JumpStart Costa Rica and Costa Rica Corps, and author of “Love in Translation.” She has been certified as a trainer by the Solutions Journalism Network.

Mónica Quesada Cordero

Co-founder and graphic editor

Mónica is an award-winning photojournalist with 20+ years of experience developing photographic projects in the editorial, portrait, wildlife, food and architecture areas. In addition, she has experience in writing and a master’s degree in Audiovisual and Multimedia Production. She is a certified Solutions Journalism and Complicating the Narratives Trainer by the Solutions Journalism Network.