It is time for journalists to specialize in several areas of journalism, according to Mr. Toinyane Rapapa, Minister of Communications Science and Technology, in order to be able to report with understanding.
On Monday, the African Peer Review Mechanism (APMR) Continental Secretariat, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Relations, and the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Lesotho together to host the two-day workshop on APMR Media Training.
According to Mr. Rapapa, the training will further serve as a network of communication for disseminating APRM reports and publications as well as raising public awareness of, enlightening, and educating the media about APRM processes.
This training will go a long way toward cementing friendly relations between Lesotho and Ethiopia, he said.
Following its founding in 2003, Lesotho became the 12th member state of the African Union (AU) to voluntarily join APRM in July 2004.
He noted that like the other member states, Lesotho sees APRM as Africa’s top governance self-assessment and promotion tool for advancing economic development, participatory democracy, peace, and eternal tranquility.
He emphasized that Lesotho was reviewed in 2009 and that some of the lessons learned from that review included, among other things, the need to prioritize technical details when setting up APRM structures in countries submitting reviews, resource mobilization, and the technical autonomous body to shorten assessment process delays.
Speaking in addition, Mr. Ntsukunyane Lekhetho, National Director of MISA Lesotho, stated that the goals of the media training are to inform and educate the media community on the APRM process in Lesotho.
By creating a national media strategy, he continued, it aims to encourage sustained consistent reporting and coverage of the APRM process.
Once more, the goal of the training is to create a network of communicators who will spread information about APRM reports and publications.
Similarly, Adv. Batlokoa Makong, Acting Chief of Staff, APRM Continental Secretariat, stated that the main goal of APRM is to promote the adoption of laws, regulations, and practices that promote stability, rapid economic growth, and sustainable development.
In May 2019, South Africa hosted the APRM of the Communicators Network’s inaugural conference. In light of this, the APRM will organize its first media training on June 27 and 28 in Maseru, Lesotho.