Nairobi, 1 April 2022 (ECA): The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) organized a three-day workshop to increase the capacity of online media practitioners to report more vigorously on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), thereby fostering greater and improved AfCFTA coverage.
The workshop was held under the theme, “Partnership for AfCFTA Awareness and Implementation” and ran from 29 March to 1 April 2022. It was aimed at deepening participants’ understanding of the role of the AfCFTA in boosting economic growth, and improving the skills of online media practitioners to report on the AfCFTA.
In his remarks, Adeyinka Adeyemi, Senior Advisor in the Regional Integration and Trade Division (RITD) at the ECA, urged the journalists to remain factual in their reporting and serve as “agents of change,” sharing trusted content on the AfCFTA.
“I expect that this training will help participants to receive a feed of verified content on AfCFTA, optimized for social sharing with simple, compelling messaging that either directly counters misinformation or fills an information void,” said Mr Adeyemi.
On her part, Justice Kathy Ann Waterman Latchoo, Author of Newsroom Law, who facilitated the workshop emphasized the need for good storytelling to catch readers’ attention. She addressed the need for professionalism and objectivity in reporting on the AfCFTA, and highlighted the crucial role of the media as essential stakeholders in the success of the AfCFTA.
“Simplicity in storytelling is key to enhancing the visibility of the AfCFTA,” she added.
In addition to briefing the journalists on the structure and governance of the AfCFTA, including its protocols, instruments, and modalities of liberalization, participants were also introduced to the tenth edition of the ECA report on Assessing Regional Integration in Africa (ARIA X), the analysis and findings of the Commission’s non-recurrent publication on “Governing the interface between the AfCFTA and RECs”, and the Common Investment Area report.
In his presentation on some of ECA’s knowledge products, Francis Ikome who heads RITD’s Regional Integration Section, also highlighted the role of media to unpack and simplify AfCFTA messaging, including facilitating outreach, understanding, and implementation.
The workshop featured practical sessions on the challenges in reporting on AfCFTA; data integrity and disinformation; the interface between the African image and the media; general newsroom laws and guidelines; principles of writing economic/trade stories; relationship between regional institutions and the press; and objectivity and professionalism in reporting on AfCFTA.
The meeting underlined the need for ECA to improve interactions with media and increase their involvement in the AfCFTA discourse so that they can help humanize AfCFTA stories.
Participants also had the opportunity to share and learn from one another’s experiences, whilst exploring the latest approaches and techniques in reporting on trade and economic issues.
Keji Janefer Silver, a journalist at the City Review Newspaper in South Sudan, said the training was impactful as it enhanced her ability to communicate the benefits of the AfCFTA to the South Sudanese people, especially farmers.
Shehzad Joomun, News Editor at the Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation, expressed his satisfaction with the training, stating that ECA has brought together like-minded people to be part of the change they want in Africa.
“For Africa to trade with Africa, we must all speak with one voice, show to our people and the world that we have the resources, the competencies and the drive to make our countries and our continent prosper,” he said.
The workshop also saw the establishment of a new network of journalists to interact and share stories on the AfCFTA.
The meeting was organized by the African Trade Policy Centre (ATPC) of ECA and financed by the Government of Denmark. It brought together over 25 online publishers and bloggers from across Africa covering trade and development issues with special focus on the AfCFTA.
For more information Contact
Communications Section
Economic Commission for Africa
PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 5826
E-mail: eca-info@un.org or afeworks@un.org