Free Town Sierra Leone 7 June 2016; The two-day workshop that brought together communication focal persons from the African Union Member States Embassies based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, concluded in Freetown, Sierra Leonne with a commitment to engage all AU Member States media representatives in a strategic manner to popularize the activities, vision and missions of the African Union, as part of the implementation of the AU Communication, Advocacy and Marketing Strategy. The Press Attaches recognized the important role they have to play in concretizing this goals and objectives of the Continental Organization via a robust sensitization strategy to raise awareness on the development Agenda 2063, among others.
Several presentation were made during the workshop including an overview of the AU Communication by the Ag. Directorate of Information and Communication, Mrs. Esther Azaa Tankou; the Agenda 2063 and its Ten Years Implementation Plan, the Aspiration and flagship project of this development agenda, by Micheal Gonquoi from the Directorate
of Strategic Planning of the AUC (SPPERM); the involvement of Press Attaches of Embassies to the implementation of Agenda 2063, by H.E Amb Ismael Koroma, Deputy Head of Mission of the Sierra Leone Embassy in Addis Ababa; Post Ebola and investment opportunities for Sierra Leone, by Mr. Raymond Gbekie, Chief Executive Officer of Sierra Leone Investment and Export Promotion Agency; packaging information about Agenda 2063 to make it attractive for public consumption and how to effectively use the Social Media to popularize Agenda 2063, by Mr. Abubakar Sheriff, Senior Editor, Concord Times jointly with Mr. RodMar Johnson, Senior Editor and Correspondent of the French News Agency (AFP). The AU flagship project on Panafrican University (PAU) was presented by Mr. Adiatou Fatty, PAU Communication Officer in the Department of Human Resources Science and Technology (HRST) of the AU Commission.
Organised by the Directorate of Information and Communication (DIC) of the African Union pre-summit workshop on popularization of Agenda 2063 also discussed how to make effective and efficient use of the focal persons in communication at embassies in the coverage of the upcoming Summit and reporting on the outcome of the 27th AU Summit scheduled to take place from 10-17 July 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda. The Summit’s Decisions and Declarations has to be disseminated in a way to impact the lives of the African citizens. Hence the need to reach out to Africans for a better understanding and of the policies by popularizing the Summit outcomes worldwide, with the view to enhance visibility about the work of the AU Commission and promote the image of the Organisation.
Various recommendations aimed at elaborating national campaign strategies to improve the visibility of the AUC in the respective countries through the national media were made during the workshop. The meeting took note that, Press attaches of embassies represent potential communication actors that can be good agents of relaying information from the AU headquarters through their respective Ministry of Communications and eventually directly to the local population through the different national media.
One of the recommendation was to create a social media group of the AU Press Attaches to ease interaction and quick exchange of information, such as WhatsApp and Viber groups etc..

In his closing remarks, Ambassador Allieu I. Kanu, Chairman of the Independent Media Commission (MIC), commended the Directorate of Information and Communication for a successful meeting. He noted that the presence of AU officials in Sierra Leone especially at a time soon after the country has been declared free from the Ebola scourge is proof of the AU’s continued support in the recuperation of a post Ebola Nation. Ambassador Kanu reiterated the important role of information dissemination with the view to reach out to all classes of the population and ensuring that the information gets to the targeted audience. “Everybody has the right to information and be enlightened about the happenings around them, particularly with the rapid developments around the world… Press Attaches have a big role to play, to educate the western world about the positive developments in Africa”. The Ambassador also underscored the need to introduce an African Union based curriculum in schools and colleges to teach Africans about the organs of the AU and its activities in line with the “Know Your African Union Campaign”. On the issue of investment he said African should take center stage of investment opportunities while communications experts should take advantage and spread the word worldwide of existing investment opportunities in Africa .
The Acting Director of the Directorate of Information and Communication Directorate of the AUC commended all participants for the insightful discussions held over the two days; noting that concrete ideas shall be incorporated into the African Union Communication strategy moving forward. Mrs. Esther called for more proactive group of communication Experts who should not only seat in their office to draft press releases but also reach out physically to the grassroots population to convey the AU message of a united and integrated Africa, by so doing, bringing the AU Headquarters closer to the people so that they can interact and feel more involved in the development process of the continent. She stressed that communication is also about interacting with all classes of people and showing concern about their needs by listening attentively to them and socializing as much as possible. “The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, has been emphasizing on the need for a people centered Organisation where everyone is expected to play a role and contribute to the “Africa We Want” as encapsulated in Agenda 2063”, concluded the DIC Ag. Director.
At the end of the two day Press Attaches workshop a social evening was organized to enable the AU delegation interact with the people and Government members of Sierra Leone and exchange views on recent happenings in the continent, among others. During the event, the Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Sierra Leone, H.E Dr. Mohamed Gibril Sesay expressed his appreciation to the AUC leadership and to the Chairperson of the Commission, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma for her vision of a people centered Union which “was clearly demonstrated by the fruitful meeting of a delegation from the AU headquarters to Sierra Leone”. He said the presence of the AU Embassies communication focal persons in Freetown has made news in the local media as well as the social media. “The event has been reported in the local languages in all the news channels and has greatly raised awareness about the African Union” he underlined while wishing that such positive actions will continue. He thanked the AU team for accepting to undertake the long journey to Freetown in solidarity with the people of Sierra Leone. “We are very touched by this kind gesture coming from the AU Commission” noted the Minister of State.
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Media Contact:
Esther AzaaTankou, Ag. Director of Information and Communication, African Union Commission (AUC)/ Tel: +251(0) 911361185 / E-mail: yamboue@africa-union.org

For further information:
Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: DIC@african-union.org I Website: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

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