GITEGA January 13th (ABP) – The Ministry of Communication, Information Technologies and Media has organized, since Monday January 10, 2022, a two-day training workshop for senior executives and executives of State institutions on the implementation of the national communication strategy for development in support of the National Development Plan (PND 2018-2027), we learned on site.
In his opening speech of the workshop, the permanent secretary at the ministry having communication in his attributions, Mr. Anicet Niyonkuru, recalled that Burundi has adopted a National Development Plan 2018-2027 and that with a view to its operationalization, a national communication strategy for development in support of the PND has been drawn up by the aforementioned ministry. That strategy, he said, was validated by the Council of Ministers in December 2020 while a sectoral strategy of this same ministry was adopted by the Cabinet meeting in 2021.
For Mr. Niyonkuru, that workshop will allow participants to have tools, allowing them to change their attitudes, in order to be able to influence the heavy environmental and cultural trends of Burundians.
He clarified that the majority of senior officials of ministries and officials of institutions hardly ever use communication for development, while it promotes participation and social change through the methods and development of interpersonal communication, community media and modern information technologies.
He invited the participants to diversify the types of communication and to better master communication for development, which facilitates access to information, especially since institutional communication aims to respond, to report, to generate visibility. and establish public relations.
The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Communication stressed that, in different ministries, communication is vertical and not conducive to dialogue, which does not facilitate the impetus for the desired change. He did not fail to challenge the participants to better master how to develop a communication strategy for development.
During the discussions, the participants mentioned a challenge linked to the confusion between the spokesperson and the communication unit, which is noticeable in some ministries, adding that even where it exists, it is sometimes non-operational due to the lack of equipment.
For the same participants, decision-makers should get more involved so that the communication units of the different ministries are equipped with materials, in order to better popularize communication strategies for development.