Media & Communication Policy Concept Note

Fostering Communication & Cooperation amongst Non-State Actors in Swaziland Media & Communication Policy Concept Note 1. Background The Coordinating ...
Author: Lizbeth Sims
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Fostering Communication & Cooperation amongst Non-State Actors in Swaziland

Media & Communication Policy Concept Note 1. Background The Coordinating Assembly of Non-Governmental Organisation was formalised in 1987 as a fully-fledged Coordinating Body for NGOs in Swaziland. In 2000 the organisation had a strategic shift whereby it sought to use its convening power to mobilise NGOs and civil society in the country to engage and influence policies with a view for policy impact on poverty. This was born out of a realisation that whilst development aid has helped the non-governmental

sector

and

civil

society

organisation

to

implement development programmes in the country, poverty levels in the country was getting worse instead of being reduced. This was attributed to failure of government policies to address the fundamental constrains that were contribution to heightened levels of poverty in a country that is classified as lower middle income.

CANGO has a fully-fledged Secretariat that is coordinating work around policy/advocacy, coordination of NGOs through Consortia five consortia – HIV and AIDS, Children, Gender, Food Security, Human Rights and Governance, capacity building and grants management. The Consortia are the CANGOs advocacy and coordination framework.

CANGO has a fully-fledged Secretariat that is responsible for the implementation of CANGO related

programmes directed

at

facilitating a better coordination for the NGOs sector and also an effective voice for the poor and vulnerable people and communities in the country.

The CANGO Secretariat accounts to an 11 Member Board which in turn reports to the Annual General Meeting which is represented by member organisations, who are the custodians of CANGO.

2. Problem

The Coordinating Assembly of NGOs has over the years created strong relationships with the media and the public in Swaziland. It has been able to disseminate its programmes, special events,

policy dialogues and positions of the organisation on government policies. The overall communication for the organisation has been managed

by

the

CANGO

Director

as

mandated

by

the

Constitution of CANGO. The Director in the past delegated this role

to

an

information

officer

who

had

expertise

on

communication and managing media and public relations. The first phase for civil society project supported

by the Africa

Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) pointed out that whilst the Secretariat

had done a good job

processes and being the voice,

this

in has

managing

policy

disempowered the

Consortia and also alienated the Secretariat as the government would put pressure on Secretariat to tone down its messages directed at influencing policies and was misconstrued as antigovernment. The Second phase of this project which commenced implementation in 2012, directed resources to support Consortia to take centre stage in policy advocacy role and this also includes communicating messages with the Media.

CANGO has forged a partnership with COSPE on a project funded by the European Union titled “Fostering Communication and Cooperation Amongst Non-State Actors in Swaziland” that aims at strengthening CANGOs capacities in communication and cooperation. The project aims at building internal and external communication capacities of CANGO.

The advent of social media platforms including twitter and Facebook has created wider platforms for communication for individuals and sometimes the communication and messages will be aligned to organisation even though communicated at individual level; hence, the need to have guidelines on how to use such platforms to communicate organisations key messages. There are various media houses in the country and also in the SADC region and beyond that inundate CANGO with request for information. There is a need for CANGO to have clear guidelines who is mandated to address media and on what issues.

CANGO is a well-established and well respected umbrella body for NGOs in Swaziland. CANGO has a reputation for representing the interest of the non-governmental sector, the poor and vulnerable in society.

The media through this long standing

relationship it has with CANGO has an interest on CANGOs work particularly its views on policies.

The organisation has an

obligation to be open and be responsive to the media information request. This is because the media has become one of CANGO’s customer and business partner.

This has created a need for CANGO to have a policy that would guide the Board, Secretariat and Consortia how to manage communication through the media especially when representing CANGOs interests.

3. Assignment Purpose To develop a media and communication policy that will guide the CANGO Board, Consortia, and staff and to some extend CANGO members in the management of media and facilitation of media relation,

processes

for

issuance

of

timely,

accurate,

comprehensive, relevant and authoritative information by all the above mention bodies.

4. Objectives of the Assignment a) Unpack the

CANGOs

communication

needs with the

media b) Outline the current communication practice underscoring strengths and weaknesses of these c) Propose in a consultative way policy directions that will facilitate efficiency, accuracy, reliability of information 5. Key Outputs a) Inception report outlining the work plan, interviewees and methodology for the assignment b) Draft report on assignment c) Draft policy d) Presentation of draft e) Presentation and Adoption by the CANGO Board