Rabat, Oct. 18, GNA
– Mr Rachid Boumhil, the General Secretary of the Moroccan News Agency (MAP),
Friday closed the Atlantic Federation of African Press Agencies (FAAPA) Women’s
leadership enhancement seminar with a charge to the participants to transform
their organisations with their new knowledge and zeal.
Commending them for
the creation of the Network of Women Leaders of African News Agencies under the
auspices of FAAPA, Mr Boumhil encouraged them to pool their strengths and
resources to achieve its goals to empower women to take up leadership positions
towards making Africa’s development holistic.
Mrs Carine Edwige
Mindze of the Gabonese News Agency, who is the Coordinator General of the
nine-member steering committee, said the members were eager to use their
foundational but diverse knowledge and expertise to better the lot women in
both their organisations and on the continent.
What was required
were the resources to drive their agenda, she said, and appealed to FAAPA to
back to succeed.
FAAPA organised the
seminar in the Moroccan capital of Rabat for journalists, editors and executive
officers from 20 African news agencies including that of Ghana, Cape Verde,
Togo, Senegal, Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The participants
excitedly received their certificates of participation.
Over the past five
days, experts in communication and human resource development, took them
through sessions on Leadership and Personal Development; Communication for
Leadership; Public Speaking, Personal Branding, Inter Cultural Communication,
among others.
The seminar, which
formed part of FAAPA’s Human Development Programme, aimed at developing their
soft skills, strengthening their knowledge and leadership abilities for the
effective running of their organisations towards addressing the challenges the
continent faces.
Organised on theme:
“Women’s Leadership: Needs and Strategies of African News Agencies”, it was
hosted by the African Centre for the Training of Journalists, which is located
at the headquarters of the Moroccan News Agency (MAP).
Following the
recommendation of the 21 participants to have a body to consolidate and
operationalise the gains from the Network was formed and inaugurated.
The initiative was
inspired by the Gender Parity Committee of the MAP, which works to upgrade the
competencies of deserving women through training and coaching to position them
in leadership roles.
Additionally, the
committee facilitates the mainstreaming of issues concerning women and their
needs in the running of the Agency.
The President of
FAAPA, Mr Khalil Hachimi Idrissi, who opened the seminar on Monday, said the
successes being chalked by committee, served as a motivation for organising it.
FAAPA, established
in October 2014, is a professional platform to encourage the FAAPA and also
strategises to position news agencies to remain relevant with regard to the
fast changing trends in multimedia technologies.
The GNA is an active
member of the federation.
GNA
