The media has been urged to play a greater role in helping citizens understand regional integration, free movement and protection of people affected by disasters across the IGAD region to help dispel misconceptions and ensure communities benefit from regional protocols and strengthen regional cooperation.
In particular, the media has been challenged to go beyond reporting regional policies and explain how IGAD protocols affect the lives and livelihoods of people across member states.
Speaking during the opening of a four-day regional media workshop in Entebbe, Uganda, Lucy Daxbacher, IGAD Senior Programme Coordinator in the Health and Social Development Division, said journalists have an important responsibility to translate complex regional policies into information that communities and the public can easily understand and relate to.
Her sentiments were echoed by Ephrem Getnet, Chief Technical Advisor at the International Labour Organization (ILO).
According to Getnet, effective media coverage can help bridge the gap between regional policies and the public, while promoting dialogue, cooperation, peace, economic development and poverty reduction across the region.
The workshop, themed “Free Movement of Persons and Transhumance in the IGAD Region,” has brought together journalists and communication stakeholders from the seven IGAD member states namely Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda.
