BUJUMBURA, February 19th (ABP) – A group of experts validated on Thursday, February 15 on the Mutanga campus of the University of Burundi, a strategic communication and visibility plan of the East African Nutritional Sciences Institute (EANSI), a check on the site by ABP has revealed.
This plan also aims to define a vision and key objectives in terms of information and communication to be deployed; to identify and mobilize target groups; to optimize information, communication and visibility channels (media and non-media/digital) in order to promote EANSI internationally.
During the presentation of the plan, the communications and marketing consultant for development projects, Dr. Amdi Fall, said that the Burundi government, with the support of the African Development Bank, set up the EANSI in order to meet the great challenge linked to improving nutrition and developing the private sector.
On the same occasion, Dr. Amdi added that to facilitate the achievement of this objective, a relevant, effective and efficient communication strategy with the objective of ensuring high visibility and increased readability is essential to the EANSI, while promoting the mobilization of additional resources intended to strengthen the center’s resources; to ensure its autonomy and relevance.
For this, he explained, EANSI has the duty to implement communication actions relating to promotion and its offer of excellent training in particular, highlighting that communications must target all stakeholders. According to him, emphasis must be placed on the importance and opportunities offered by training in the field of food safety.
Concerning the stakeholders, Dr. Amdi mentioned all the stakeholders who facilitate and actively contribute to the success of the project. These include, among others, EANSI staff; the fiduciary and technical team of the support project (PA-EANSI); institutional actors; education support partners; the media as well as civil society organizations.
This strategic plan directly targets students and professionals for visibility and promotion as well as financial partners for resource mobilization.
In an intermediate way, the same plan targets the general public and media actors. It indirectly targets State authorities; support partners as well as non-State actors.
Regarding the challenges, that communication expert pointed out that the major challenge lies in the good understanding of objectives and expectations, but also in the materialization of actions. On that occasion, he recommended that EANSI ensure the proper implementation of communication activities and combine dimensional communication intended to give very high visibility to EANSI and the support project. In addition, he said, a marketing, valorization and promotion campaign for EANSI during the implementation of this communication plan, is necessary.
Dr. Amdi also proposed some communication actions to take. He insisted on the information, popularization and documentation campaigns of the EANSI via traditional and social media; mobilizing partners by organizing forums; the dissemination of information among stakeholders without forgetting the dissemination of the results and achievements of the project and the center of excellence.