The
sub-regional economic bloc, Ecowas, says it is now using social media platforms to
reach a wider audience, increase awareness among Ecowas citizens and to attain
regional integration.
For
the first time since the Ecowas Commission was established in 1975, in April 2015 it opened accounts on Facebook (Ecowas_Cedeao),
Twitter (@ecowas_cedeao), and
YouTube (ECOWAS_CEDEAO).
The
Commission also uses parallel media – print media, broadcast and online media
simultaneously – to work towards achieving an “Ecowas of the People” and Vision
2020, the director of the Communication’s Directorate, Sandra Oulate F.
Elleingand said.
“We
are now using the social media because it is “the fastest growing means of
communication in the world,” she said of ‘the Role of the Communications
Directorate in Creating Awareness among the Citizens of the Ecowas Community’.
Last
week, she told young West African journalists in Abuja, Nigeria who gathered at
the Ecowas Commission for a week, that the
Commission is now more accessible to citizens of West Africa and the
world and as part of ongoing efforts to enhance visibility of Ecowas, the
protocols, programmes and other activities of the organisation are now readily
available.
Elleingand
said information regarding recruitment, procurement as well as political,
social and economic activities are featured on the social media, in addition to
the new improved website – www.ecowas.int – lunched last
year.
The
site attracted 49, 000 visitors between 23 April and 23 May, 2016, according to
the statistics of Google Analytics. “These will bring Ecowas closer to its
citizens, allowing them to interact and engage the organisation through
comments and sharing of information,” she said.
She
said the renewed strategy of her Directorate “is consistent with the objectives
of transformation from an ECOWAS of States to an ECOWAS of People.”
Enhance regional
integration
Besides
using the internet, Ecowas also plans to use young journalists to promote and
attain regional integration.
Fifteen
journalists participated in the ‘Get to Know Ecowas’ training from 30 May to 3
June, 2016 in Abuja – meant to create a pool of well-informed media
practitioners who would act as catalysts to bridge the information and
awareness gap between Ecowas and its citizens.
The
training is meant to equip the young journalists about the operations of Ecowas
and its challenges so as to be able to trigger intensive discussions at their
various countries leading to innovative suggestions for addressing some of the
challenges and the achievement of ‘Ecowas of the People’.
Seija
Sturies, the resident representative of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) Nigeria, said
West Africans deserve to know the Ecowas policies and programmes and as well
deserve to have a platform to contribute to the decisions of the Commission that
directly affect them.
She
said making certain information like the Protocol on Free Movement of Goods,
Persons and Services available to traders who operate across the border can
help change some of the practices, and facilitate and accelerate regional
integration and development.
Written by Modou S. Joof
Follow on Facebook: The North Bank Evening Standard
- This story first appeared on The Voice newspaper in Serekunda on June 10, 2016
No comments:
Post a Comment
The views expressed in this section are the authors' own. It does not represent The North Bank Evening Standard (TNBES)'s editorial policy. Also, TNBES is not responsible for content on external links.