On Sunday, July 25, 2021, the Network for Agricultural Journalists of ECOWAS (comprising journalists from 15 ECOWAS member States) was officially launched virtually. This network is made up of an office, advisers, and committees.
The network aims to raise awareness, train, and inform stakeholders in the agricultural world, to develop a communication strategy to facilitate and exchange information and knowledge between farming communities in various African countries, farmer group organizations, developing partners, and develop a synergy between these actors, to enhance the image of the agricultural sector in the Sub-Region to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“As we all know, among all the sectors, Agriculture ranks first and represents the sector par excellence which will enable Africa to evolve from underdevelopment,” said Mr. BABACAR Sene, a veteran agricultural journalist in Senegal who was elected President of the network.
“This network would therefore allow national or international agricultural institutions to have a network of journalists from ECOWAS member states who could easily communicate and inform about all their projects in the agricultural sector,” he added.
The specific objectives of the network are to:
● Develop content based on local knowledge and locally adapted media
related to the concerns of partners;
● Develop a method of continuous and appropriate evaluation of the
endogenous communicator function, of the media presenters and of
those in charge of the audiovisual units of development organizations;
● To achieve the objectives, REJA-ECOWAS would rely on the following
activities:
● To identify and address the farmers needs and analyze ways to resolves
the needs for high productivity to solve Food Security in the Sub-Region
● To educate farmers on government policies in various member states.
● Integrate ECOWAS COMMISSION on policies affecting the agriculture
growth in the Sub-Region and at the National levels.
● To train members on projects and how the members would in turn train farmers on specific projects developed by the Network.
● To collect and validate data of local knowledge for policymaking of the
ECOWAS COMMISSION.
● To evaluate agricultural policies of the ECOWAS and the government of
the member states for National Agricultural Development.
We are very happy to launch this network which constitutes an additional step in our approach to developing the agricultural sector in the Sub-Region. This network guarantees the availability of information in real-time between the various ECOWAS countries. This is a unique initiative aimed more particularly at national and international agricultural organizations, specifies BABACAR Séné, President of REJA - ECOWAS.
To all national and international authorities and organizations, it is a pleasure for us to present this network of ECOWAS agricultural journalists born on Sunday, 25th, July 2021.
For more information:
BABACAR Séné – President: +221 77 536 20 18
François M’BRA II- 1st Vice President: +225 07 08 72 45 78
Victorien AMEDEKAGNA – Secretary General: +228 98 24 30 43
Email: rejacedeao@gmail.com
President, REJA-ECOWAS, Babacar Séné
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