Alfonso Gumucio Dragon

Known for

Directing

Born

October 31, 1950

Birthplace

La Paz, Bolivia

Alfonso Gumucio Dagron (born October 31, 1950) is a Bolivian writer, filmmaker, journalist, photographer and development communication specialist. His father was Alfonso Gumucio Reyes, a leader of the Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR), Minister of Economy during the Government of Víctor Paz Estenssoro, and Ambassador to Uruguay and Spain. He is the author of several books on film and [communication for social change, as well as documentary films, photographic exhibits and hundreds of articles in journals. He has worked in five continents on social development projects, as a communication for development specialist. Because of his involvement as progressive journalist he has twice been forced to live in exile, first living in Paris from 1972 to 1978, and later in Mexico from 1980 to 1984. He studied filmmaking at the Institut des hautes études cinématographique (IDHEC) and the University of Vincennes, in Paris. Back in Bolivia in 1978 he directed a number of documentaries on cultural and social issues, as he worked at the Centro de Investigación y Promoción del Campesinado (CIPCA), a Bolivian NGO, and published as a journalist in various daily newspapers and weekly journals. Since the mid-1980s his work in development communication programs has taken him to Africa, Asia, the South Pacific, Latin America and The Caribbean, serving for various international organizations. He worked with UNICEF in Nigeria and Haiti, and as an international consultant for FAO, UNDP, UNESCO, The Rockefeller Foundation, AusAID and Conservation International. He is the Managing Director for Programmes at the Communication for Social Change Consortium and familiar with issues of child rights, environment, indigenous populations, arts and culture, human rights, community organization, health and sustainable development.