Following the recent signing of the Access to Information Act by President Hage Geingob, government communication officers are convening a week-long meeting towards moving to full implementation, as gatekeepers of their respective ministries and institutions.
The workshop was officially opened by Information and Communication Technology Minister, Peya Mushelenga.
Dr Mushelenga noted that the Access to Information Act is an achievement signifying Government's commitment to democracy and transparency in management and information dissemination.
"You are therefore urged to uphold the ethos of transparency in information dissemination as envisaged in the Act and demonstrate commitment to good service, not only within your respective offices but to a greater part of our society. Overall, the Access to Information Act seeks to advance transparency and accountability and guarantee our citizens the right to freedom of information and access with a view to making informed decisions about their lives and livelihood".
Information and Communication Technology Executive Director, Dr Audrin Mathe stressed the importance of an open-door relationship, between communication officers and journalists.
"As it was mentioned earlier, personal contact with journalists is very important. The best way to generate publicity for meetings, events, or campaign activities, is that you must participate in building good relations with journalists. Especially those that cover the specific beats that you are responsible for".
Namibia Broadcasting Corporation Chief of News and Programming, Menesia Muinjo used the platform to sensitize the media officers on nbc's mandates and how to write for radio and television.
"We have a centralized newsroom and the reason but as part of convergence, as you have also seen that print media, they also have radio and things like that, they have online platforms, so we have converged and our main aim there is to ensure that the same message coming from the NBC but through different platforms. We also have what is called a special projects unit, again the idea was just to ensure that we are on the same page, when we have sponsorships, are all the area, like how does radio benefit from also getting a story like maybe independence celebrations. We also have guidelines, like we have the newsroom stylebook guidelines and we have another book called the editorial policy".
The workshop will also focus on public speaking, social media and government, photography and videography skills, cyber security strategies and awareness.