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By Stella Etemesi, Secretary, WACC-Africa
 | | WACC Africa has mapped out its activities for the next three years at a regional Executive Committee (EXCOM) meeting held in Lomé, Togo, 26-27 March 2009. This was the first meeting convened by the EXCOM since their election at the regional General Assembly held in Cape Town, South Africa, in October 2008, prior to Congress. | | WACC Africa Chair, Rev. Achowah Umenei (right) with Vice-Chair, Henk van Ingen | | |
For 2009, the African region will focus on a WACC membership drive as its priority activity. The campaign is aimed at revitalizing the declining numbers of active members in the region. It will focus on reviving the participation of lapsed members, encouraging affiliate members to take up full membership, and recruiting new members.
The Executive Committee acknowledged that infrequent communication and lack of definition of the benefits of joining WACC’s membership were chief obstacles to attracting and maintaining members. To tackle this, increased and regular communication between the Executive Committee and members is the main strategy that it will employ in the membership drive.
The region also plans to; establish a website, an electronic discussion group to facilitate networking, revive the Beacon newsletter, and develop a photo slide presentation that promotes WACC and describes the benefits of becoming a member.
For project activities, two priority areas were identified for action: communication for peace, and media and gender justice. In 2010, WACC plans to organise training seminars in peace journalism targeted at journalists, editors and decision makers working in faith based media. The goal of these seminars will be to help Christian communicators identify what role they can play to promote peace.
WACC-AR also plans to participate in the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) 2009-10. Institutions in Kenya, Cameroon, South Africa, Togo and Burkina will be approached to participate in this exercise. To follow up on the GMMP, the project activities for 2011 will focus on Media and Gender Justice. The activities to be undertaken will be drawn up after consultation with regional members on the specific areas of interest.
The Executive Committee further recognised that there is an urgent need for the region to connect with funding and collaboration partners so that the region can implement more projects on the continent. Like the rest of the world undergoing an economic downturn, this is a challenge that will continue to consume the energies of WACC-AR for some time; but for now the immediate priority is to revive the spirit and relight the fire in the region.
Though a leaner team – reduced from 8 to 4 members – the Executive Committee officers represent West, East, Central and Southern Africa. The officers are Rev Achowah Umenei (Cameroon) who is President, Rev. Henk Van Ingen (Burkina Faso) as Vice President, Rev. Dave Wanless (South Africa) as Treasurer, and Ms. Stella Etemesi (Kenya) as Secretary. The officers were hosted by Ms Mathilde Kpalla of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Togo, who also serves as one of the four Alternates of the Committee.
For more photos, click here
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Par Mathilde Kpalla, suppléant, WACC-Africa
La WACC Région Afrique (WACC-AR) a tenu sa réunion du Comité Exécutif à Lomé au Togo du 26 au 27 mars 2009. Cette rencontre, la première, depuis l’élection des membres lors de l’Assemblée générale à cape Town en octobre dernier, a permis de définir le plan d’actions de la région pour les trois années à venir.
Etaient présents à cette rencontre Rev. Achowah UMENEI, Président, Rev. Henk VAN INGEN, Vice Président, Rev. Dave WANLESS, Trésorier, Ms Stella ETEMESI, Secrétaire. La rencontre a été organisée par Mlle Mathilde KPALLA, qui est l’une des quatre membres alternatifs du Comité Exécutif. En ce qui concerne les projets, deux domaines d’activités ont été retenus selon l’actualité du continent et les préoccupations de WACC global. La Communication pour la paix et Média Genre et Justice sont donc les domaines qui seront pris en compte en termes de projet. En 2010 la WACC planifie des séminaires et atelier des formations pour des journalistes et communication sur le rôle qu’ils peuvent jouer dans la promotion de la paix. La WACC-AR compte aussi s’impliquer activement dans le Global Monitoring Project (GMMP). A cet effet des institutions au Cameroun, en Afrique du Sud, au Togo, Au Burkina Faso et au Kenya seront ciblées pour participer à cet exercice. Le thème retenu par le GMMP fera l’objet du projet de WACC-AR pour 2011. Le projet sera peaufiné après consultations des membres. Un autre point qui a retenu l’attention du Comité exécutif est la nécessité de mobiliser des fonds sur le continent pour multiplier les projets. Des contacts seront donc établis avec des partenaires locaux pour voir dans quelle mesure certains projets peuvent être pris en compte. Au vu des multiples défis qui incombent actuellement aux communicateurs chrétiens africains, il est impérieux qu’il y ait une bonne synergie pour l’efficacité des actions à mener, et l’espace qu’offre la WACC à travers WACC-AR est une énorme occasion. pour plus de photos cliquez ici |
