Somalia officials trained in Nairobi as FGS aims at perfecting its PR strategy on development

NAIROBI, Kenya - 14 senior directors from Somalia's Ministry of Information, Culture, and Tourism have received training on strategic communication and public management, AMISOM said, in a scheme aimed at "telling positive stories" about Somalia.

For over three decades, Somalia has faced snub from the international community, due to persistent inter-clan conflicts, terrorism, and massive corruption, leading to poor investment and under development.

The African Union Mission in Somalia [AMISOM] organized the training with the sole aim of equipping senior management team from the ministry with skills of telling Somalia's positive strides in the social-economic and geopolitical arena, officials said.

“The Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism are key in giving visibility to the successes and improvements happening in Somalia”, said Abdirahman Yusuf Al Adala, the Director-General in the ministry.

“We are grateful for the cooperation and support of AMISOM over the years and this training of our staff is important in giving them a global perspective to be able to fully tell our story to the world.”

Development of strategic communication, key messages for priority programs and campaigns, research and audience insight on communication were some of the topics covered during the one-week training that ended on Saturday.

Frequent Al-Shabaab attacks and internal political squabbles have eclipsed Somalia's progressive agenda, father scaring investors and other willing partners from developing the war-torn nation.

“What we are endeavoring to do is to create awareness and knowledge to have these leaders become more strategic," said public management expert Anne Gichuhi.

"I am sure that moving forward they will make a big change because they are instrumental in taking the government agenda to the public in Somalia."

During her lecture, Gichuhi took the participants through the key aspects of public affairs management, public policy analysis, community relations, brand management and various simulations centered around building community relations, AMISOM reported.

During the trip, the officials paid a courtesy call to a number of media stations among them Radio Africa Group which is the parent company to Kiss and Bamba TVs, Kiss FM, Classic 105, Radio Jambo among others.

The team discussed the importance of establishing ties in order to ease the exchange of expertise, information and management tips.

“It's in our interest to further this relationship and to grow it so that we are able to serve the interests of the people of Somalia and Kenya as best as we can. On our part, we are willing to cooperate and to work with Somalia to tell the good stories," said Paul Ilado, the head of content in Radio Africa.

Speaking on behalf of the participants, Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed expressed gratitude to AMISOM for organizing the training, which he said had given them new perspectives.

“We had a good workshop, we exchanged ideas and when we go back to Somalia we will have the energy to execute our mandate as Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism staff”.

The international community is struggling to build a functional state in Somalia, although the process has witnessed resistance from Al-Shabaab and also from among leaders anchoring vision on transient political gains.

In December, Somalia is expected to hold the first universal suffrage polls, but the process has been marred with persistent differences which the opposition squarely blames on FGS.

GAROWE ONLINE