Media training workshop at the AU Commission

The commission leadership is expected to attend as are departmental focal persons, and representatives from AU organs and RECS. It is expected to be opened by the chairperson of the commission Dr Jean Ping.

The workshop will be carried out by a renowned communicator in the US, Margaret Sullivan. Sullivan is the Director of the Center on International Media Assistance at the National Endowment for Democracy in the US. She has had extensive experience as a journalist, communications practitioner and an executive in government and international non-governmental organisations.

The workshop aims to fulfill the vision of the AU as stated in Mission four that the AU should assume “a dynamic information and advocacy role for Africa vis-à-vis the world” as well as fulfill the objectives set for communication by various AU decisions such as that of the Executive Council which states that the role of the Communication Division is “to develop, plan and conduct activities designed to provide information about the AU, and to promote increased awareness about its aims and activities through various information tools and mechanisms”.

In this regard, the workshop will seek to impart essential communication skills, particularly to those leaders who are at the forefront of representing the commission to the public. It also plans to update the knowledge and skills of those who are already engaged in communication within the Commission, including staff from the Division of communication and departmental focal persons.

The media training workshop will cover the following aspects of communication:

• Communication skills for senior AU leadership;
  
• How to conduct interviews and press conferences,
  
• How to write effective press releases,
  
• How to plan for and implement media campaigns, communicating in a crisis situation, internal and external communication and media outreach.