African Development Bank, AUC promote the role of media as ambassadors for PIDA

Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, December 22, 2017: A three-day media-training workshop organized by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the African development Bank to hone the skills of journalists to effectively cover the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) has ended  at the Bank headquarters in Bank in Abidjan.

The workshop, which was held from December 19-21, brought together 20 media practitioners from across Africa. The journalists were exposed to the workings of PIDA, how to analyze the impact of its work, and where to find the right data and information for news and features stories.

Addressing the journalists, Mamady Souaré, Division Manager of the Regional Integration Operations at the African Development Bank, highlighted some of the achievements of the PIDA Priority Action Plan (PIDA-PAP).

“PIDA is an African initiative for Africans. It is the responsibility of the media in Africa to ensure frequent and positive coverage of PIDA projects and its achievements and enhance PIDA as a brand and framework for regional infrastructure development,” Souaré said.

The three-day workshop covered the presentation of the Virtual PIDA Information Centre – PIDA’s main online presence – data journalism, and effective use of social media for information dissemination.

Participants also had the opportunity to share and learn from one another’s experiences. They were also exposed to the latest approaches and techniques in reporting on infrastructure projects. The meeting adopted a roadmap that will be followed through in 2018.

Laban Cliff, Business News Anchor at NBC Kenya and a facilitator at the training, spoke on how PIDA projects transform lives.

The workshop ended with a visit to the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor, a PIDA flagship project, the busiest corridor in West Africa, a six-lane 1028-kilometer long highway that will link Abidjan, Accra, Lomé, Cotonou and Lagos, while serving the landlocked countries and ports in the region.

Cliff was optimistic that the journalists would now be at the forefront of telling the Africa rising narrative to the world.

The event is part of the PIDA Capacity Building Project (CAP) supported by the African Development Bank. The objective is to strengthen the capacity of the African Union Commission, the NEPAD Agency and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) for planning, facilitation and coordination of implementation of regional infrastructure programmes and projects necessary for enhancing Africa’s physical and economic integration and socio economic development.

The workshop is the second activity of this type in the framework of the PIDA CAP. The first took place in Ghana in 2015, where nearly 20 African journalists enhanced their capacities on the multidimensional coverage of PIDA.