The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat says the media have an important role to play in ensuring that SADC Industrialization issues were popularized in the region and beyond.
SADC’s Acting Director for Industrial Development and Trade Dr. Lomkhosi Mkhonta –Gama said this at the opening of the one-day Media Awareness Workshop which took place in Johannesburg, South Africa, ahead of the 2nd SADC Industrialization Week which begins on July 31 –August 4, 2017.
The Media Workshop was meant to enhance awareness of the priorities of the Revised Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDIP) and the SADC Industrialization Strategy and Road Map amongst the media across the region.
“We consider the media as a critical stakeholder in disseminating news on SADC’s business. Therefore, this awareness workshop is meant also to open and cement a communication channel between the SADC Secretariat and the media of the SADC region as well as to elucidate the role the media can play in communicating SADC Industrialization issues.” said Dr Mkhonta–Gama.
She added that there was need for the media to fully understand the Industrialization Strategy and Road Map for them to report objectively and also to become keen advocates of the intended plans and aspirations of the region.
On this note, Mkhonta-Gama said the SADC Secretariat cannot ably fulfil its agenda of informing the people of the region on the regional agenda without cooperating and working hand in hand with members of the media from the region.
The SADC Industrialization Strategy and Road Map 2015-2063 which was approved by the leaders of SADC in 2015 was developed as an inclusive, long term modernization scheme that will result in major economic and technological transformation of the region.
The workshop was attended by journalists from eleven SADC Member States and was supported by the Southern Africa Trust and (SAT) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
