Stakeholders engaged in a review of the media and communications strategy of the Pan African Parliament (PAP) have emphasized the need to overhaul the Communications Unit of the PAP; empower it with the required authority and right personnel to help the continental Parliament achieve its mandate.
According to their diagnosis, the Media and Communication Unit is currently constrained with unnecessary bureaucratic processes which do not allow for swift decision making due to its wrong placement on the organogram of the institution. As a result, PAP’s activities lack visibility in the national and regional levels and has also affected the building of a strong PAP Brand.
The review of the Media and Communications Strategy has become necessary because there is a growing concern that even though the Pan African Parliament has been operating since 2004 as the Continental Parliament, its existence is not well known among the people of Africa and even among some key stakeholders.
This development undermines the ability of the Pan African Parliament to fulfill its mandate to provide a platform which is supposed to unite the people around the same vision with one voice for development on the continent. This also unduly delays progress in the ratification of the Malabo Protocol.
This came up when the stakeholders made up of Civil Society Organizations, Parliamentary Monitoring Organizations, Parliamentary Liaison officers and media experts selected from among members of the African Parliamentary Press Corps (APPN) undertook a review of the Draft Media and Communication Strategy for the Continental Parliament for 2020 to 2024.
The group which was brought together by the Communications outfit of the Pan African Parliament, engaged in a fruitful discussion in a virtual workshop on Thursday, September 2, 2021 to tease out the strengths and weaknesses of the Draft Strategy and proffer recommendations to further shape the final outcome of the strategy.
The proposed Draft Media and Communications Strategy which is yet to be considered by the Pan African Parliament to be adopted as PAP’s Media Communications Strategy 2020 – 2024, has outlined some far-reaching measures to enhance the capacity of the Media and Communications outfit of PAP to deliver on its mandate as a continental Parliament.
This draft establishes a coordinated and systematic plan to be implemented for five years, 2020-2024, in order to dramatically increase PAP visibility in the African continent, shape the perception of PAP through a meticulous cultivation of its brand, and support it in the fulfillment of its mandate.
The building of the PAP Brand through the design and implementation of Media and Communications strategies are core to the fulfillment of the Pan-African Parliament’s mandate and its functions, as well as to strengthen the path towards achieving PAP’s Vision and Mission.
It is clear that a strong media and communications strategy is an essential tool for PAP to be able to march towards the realization of its Vision and Mission, hence the need to adopt a coherent and comprehensive media and communication strategy with enough resources for its effective implementation.
Source: Clement Akoloh||parliamentnews360.com
