Building Capacity to Support Development Through Media and Communication In Africa

Building Capacity to Support Development Through Media and Communication In Africa Alfred E Opubor Abstract The Communication for Education and Development in Africa, COMED, Program, was launched in 1998, with the aim of promoting the use of communication to support national education policies and projects, by helping to develop communication capacities within African Ministries of Education and improving understanding of education issues within the media. In its four years, COMED has trained over 200 journalists and communication officers from 30 African countries in regional and sub-regional workshops. A new phase of national-level training, as well as distance education, will see an increase in this number in the next couple of years. The experience and model of the current education sector initiative can be adapted to service the communication capacity and program needs of other development sectors and problems such as agriculture, commerce, economy, governance, poverty reduction, tourism or health/hiv-aids. The ultimate goal is to be able to employ strategic communication in support and promotion of African development through building capacities for doing so in relevant public and private institutions. Specialist media need to be trained, to network with, and to partner these institutions, in order to promote public understanding and participation in development projects and programs at regional and national levels. In order to institutionalize and strengthen the thrust of communication in support of development, and to capitalize on the lessons learned in training activities currently being introduced through COMED, it is proposed to strengthen the recently-created Center for Media and Communication for Development, so that it can become a continental capacity-building and consulting network for enhancing the use of communication knowledge and practice in the service of development in Africa. 1

The COMED Program: Past, Present and Future The Communication for Education in Africa, COMED, Program was launched in 1998, with the aim of promoting the use of communication to support national education policies and projects in Africa, by helping to develop communication capacities within Ministries of Education and improving media understanding of education issues. Under the Program, a series of sub-regional and national-level training workshops has been held in which over 200 journalists and communication officers of Ministries of Education from 30 African countries participated. These training workshops were held in Cotonou, for West Africa, ( 13-18 September 1999); in Harare for East and Southern Africa, (16-26 February,2000); and in Yaounde, for Central Africa and the Indian Ocean, (28 June- 7 July, 2000). The main objectives of the workshops were to enhance the participants' professional skills and to encourage the development of working relationships between journalists and ministerial communication officers. Another objective was to encourage the creation of regional networks of education communicators. A needs assessment in September 1998, had indicated that education managers and communication officers in ministries of education were distrustful of journalists and of media reports on education, which they considered generally sensationalist. On their part, journalists considered education ministry officials difficult to access and fond of hoarding information of public interest. They felt ministry communication officers put barriers in their way, and that especially, they shielded ministers and top officials from the press. In view of this atmosphere of mutual suspicion, frustration and hostility, the COMED program decided to train journalists and communication officers together, in order to increase their mutual understanding and build trust. Other activities undertaken under the COMED Program included: (i) a pilot national training workshop in Dakar, Senegal in April 2000 for Senegalese education journalists and communicators; (ii) the sponsorship of journalists to attend events related to education, including the ADEA Biennial Meeting and the EFA Sub-Saharan Africa Conference in Johannesburg, December 1999, the World Education Forum in Dakar in April 2000, and the Zimbabwe International Book Fair in August 2000 ; (iii) a subregional training course in the use of educational statistics for journalists from some francophone West African countries, in Dakar, in June, 2001; (iv) technical assistance to the Parliament of Benin during the national consultations prior to introduction of legislation on educational reform; (v) assistance to the Federation Africaine des Associations des Parents d Eleves, FAPE, in creating a communication strategy and program for its network. 2

COMED Evaluation An evaluation was held in Cotonou, (7-9 December 2000), with key partners, to establish lessons learnt and chart future directions for the COMED Program. Among its key findings: Journalists are becoming more conscious of ethical considerations and professional standards in their reporting of education. While this might remove some of the criticism of sensational reporting about education, it may not necessarily eliminate the irritation of education managers, sensitive to close investigative scrutiny or sharp editorial comments. Countries where education reporters and correspondents are organized in a professional group or network tend also to have more structured and less conflictual relationships with communication officers and education news sources, leading to seemingly more continuous, diversified and better-informed coverage of education issues (e.g. Senegal, Kenya and Nigeria). The COMED regional workshops, by providing opportunities for journalists and communication officers from the same country to function as a team in preparing certain exercises and reports, and to acquire information about other country situations, seem to have helped to build better mutual appreciation, more collegial and less threatening relationships among them, which hopefully will translate into increased collaboration in communication for education back in their home environment. COMED Funding and Activities COMED activities have been funded by ADEA, and by the World Bank through the Norwegian Trust Fund for Education in Africa. In 2001, the Program consolidated cooperation among African journalists and communication officers in the education sector through the initiation of an electronic network, and an Internet-based discussion forum. The next phase of the capacity development program involves national workshops for diffusing the COMED training curriculum and for strengthening partnerships and networks at the national level. Workshops for about 20 countries are planned for 2002-2004, resources permitting. However, building public support for educational policies and programs, which is an important COMED objective, necessarily will include involvement of other constituencies and stakeholders in education. In this connection, as mentioned above, COMED has been involved in providing technical support to the Education, Culture and Employment Commission of the National Assembly (Parliament) of Benin Republic for a national dialogue on educational legislation. COMED has also responded to a request for training in communication for the member organizations of FAPE, la Federation Africaine de 3

Parents d Eleves, which is in the process of promoting parents capacities to participate in educational policy formulation and implementation. COMED is working with FAPE to devise a radio-based communication strategy for its network of national chapters of Parent/Teacher s Associations. It has been suggested that COMED and its network of journalists and communicators could also play a key role in the proposed Education For All, EFA, campaigns to be undertaken at regional and national levels in Africa. One output of proposed COMED national workshops will be an outline of a communication strategy for EFA, prepared by education stakeholders. The COMED experience seems therefore to provide a basis for responding to continuing and emerging needs for capacity reinforcement to serve educational promotion on the continent. It can also serve as a model pf lessons learned in applying communication and media to support development actions in various sectors. The way forward It is hoped that the COMED experience will continue to remain relevant. Looking at the future it seems possible to propose certain directions for the continued development of the COMED Program, as summarized in the table in Appendix One. COMED s major thrusts will be in FOUR areas: Capacity-building and reinforcement; Networking and Production, Advisory Services and Institutional Development Capacity building and reinforcement National Ministries of Education are a natural focal point for action on education. One of COMED s achievements so far has been in providing training for some 30 communication officers, public relations or public affairs officers of education ministries. A COMED needs assessment found that a large number of these officers were teachers not specially trained in institutional and public communication; so they have difficulty in successfully undertaking their communication responsibilities. The COMED program envisages continuing reinforcement of their capacities through a number of integrated initiatives. In the media area, specialist journalists focusing on covering education and development are very few. Many African media organizations have not yet created special desks, except in political and economic reporting. However, newspaper stories and broadcast programs on education and other development sectors are becoming more frequent. Ensuring that this increasing output is informed and responsible is a continuing challenge for the media and education stakeholders. COMED will, through national workshops, ensure transfer of the requisite basic skills. This will be facilitated by the recently developed curriculum and tool kit for training at the national level. A Training of Trainers Workshop for COMED national focal points, held in Abuja, Nigeria in May 4

2001 validated the curriculum, which will be used in the 30 national workshops which are planned over the 2001-2003 period. Other proposed activities include Training of Trainers in African journalism and communication schools, to spread interest and capacity for reporting on education among pre-service journalists. COMED will work with those who train them in schools of journalism and other educational settings. This will also enable the COMED curriculum to be mainstreamed into training courses for journalists and communicators. A Directory of training institutions and competencies which COMED is currently compiling will provide information on African training institutions in communication, journalism and related areas. The resultant database, which will be continuously updated, will facilitate access to collaborating institutions and resource persons for pre-service and other training. Promoting Quality Productions An important aspect of COMED s evolution is the potential of expanding linkages with African professional associations in communications fields. Consultations will be held with institutions such as the Union of National Radio and Television Associations, URTNA, the Southern African Broadcasting Association, SABA, the African Script Development Fund, ASDF, the Federation of African Public Relations Associations, FAPRA and the African Council on Communication Education, ACCE. It is expected that COMED will mobilize their expertise in support of education through broadcast entertainment, home videos, and soap operas and feature films which tell the African education and development story in interesting and entertaining ways. The proposed establishment of a FESPACO Prize for Best Feature Film on African Education and Development is a concrete demonstration of this thrust. At the biennial film and television festival, FESPACO, based in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, COMED will partner the African Script Development Fund, based in Harare, Zimbabwe, in organizing a prize for the screenplay and best film treating a subject or theme of relevance to education and development in Africa. Investment in such a venture will not only help to enhance the capacity of screen-writers and production crews, but will also encourage high quality African feature films that help to mainstream the promotion of education and development within African popular culture. COMED Network Development National and regional networks of journalists and communicators specialized in education will be facilitated through the following activities: (a) extension of the infrastructure and equipment to support the exchange of information designed, purchased and installed at COMED secretariat, to national focal points and at national user terminals, for exchange of text, audio and video signals. It will also enable implementation of an electronic bulletin, COMED NEWS ON-LINE, of database and clearinghouse facilities, including the COMED web site. 5

(b) The COMED DISCUSSION FORUM will be improved and sustained through provision of more robust software and trained staff, to cope with foreseen increased traffic. (c) The Inter-African Exchanges begun earlier will be continued. Three communication officers and three journalists per year will be supported for three-week inter-country exchange working visits, i.e. 18 persons during the period. Visits to Norway and other partner countries in the North and South are also envisaged under the exchange program. COMED Distance and Continuing Education In collaboration with the World Bank Institute and other partners specialized in the field, distance learning modules based on the COMED curriculum and special follow-up material will be prepared to facilitate self-learning by members of the COMED Network and other African journalists/communication officers. This will be initiated in 2003, through consultations with partners, and follow up work for adaptation and design. In 2004, the modules will be trial-tested and finalized. Advisory Services With its network of communications consultants, journalists, communication officers, professional communication associations, private sector organizations etc., COMED could become a resource of expertise in different domains of communication for education and development. This pool of talent and experience will be put at the service of various partners, as well as being made available to national and regional authorities and institutions who need and request technical assistance. Institutional Development: Strengthening the Center for Media and Communication for Development, COMDEV In order to institutionalize and strengthen the thrust of communication in support of development, and to capitalize on the lessons learned in training activities currently being introduced through COMED, it is proposed to strengthen the recently-created Center for Media and Communication for Development, so that it can become a continental capacity-building and consulting network for enhancing the use of communication knowledge and practice in the service of development in Africa. The COMEDEV Center will apply the experience and model of the current education sector initiative to serve the communication capacity and program needs of other development sectors and problems such as agriculture, commerce, governance, poverty reduction, tourism and health/hiv-aids, where both public and private sector actors require strengthening of institutional communication structures and capacities. Specialist media also need to be trained, to network with, and to partner these institutions, in the promotion of public understanding and participation in development. 6

APPENDIX ONE Summary Table of COMED Vision and Implementation, 2001-2003. Objectives: To help build national consensus and enhance public support for education policies and programs; to build institutional communication capacities in Ministries of education; to improve and increase media understanding and coverage of education; to create networks of journalists and communicators for education; to support partnerships for the promotion of education in Africa. Communication Sector Objective Activities Institutional/Ministerial Communication Institutional/Ministerial Communication Print/Broadcast Journalism Capacity Building for Ministerial Communication Officers Networking Production Capacity Building *National Workshops; *Follow-up Training; *On-line Training; *Communication Professionals Mentoring Program; *Intra-African Exchange Program *COMED Network Discussion Forum *Exchange visits *EDUCOM NEWS On-line *Community Media for Education( community radio, press, theater and cultural performances/events) *National workshops for education journalists and correspondents; *Training of trainers in journalism schools and institutions; *Directory of training institutions and competencies; Audio-Visual Media / Film, Radio, Television / Private Sector Communicators (Advertising, Marketing, Public Relations Agencies) Networking Production Capacity Building Networking Production Promoting partnerships for Education *COMED Network Discussion Forum *Exchange visits Best Stories on Education in Africa *Consultation with URTNA, SABA, etc. *Radio Script/Production workshops *Consultations with African Script Development Fund on film scenarios *URTNA Prize for Education/TV Series *FESPACO Prize for Best African Education Feature (films) *COMED Broadcasters Forum *COMED/ASDF Film Producers/Writers Network *Co-production meetings *Education For All Radio Serial; *Stories of African Education/TV Series; *African Education Features (films) *ADEA Biennial coverage and publicity *Dialogue with private-sector communication agencies Advisory Services /Capacity reinfocement/ Developing national communication strategies for education EFA Campaigns HIV/AIDS-in- Education Communication Support Promotion of Education Sector Reform Issues-oriented communication workshops for NGOs (e.g. FAPE) *Advocacy for education issues *Communication training for non-communicators, education professionals and institutions,( e.g. Teachers colleges, IIEP) Policy/Management Institutionalization of COMED Establishment of COMEDEV, Center for Media and Communication for Development 7

8