TWO groundbreaking workshops for communication professionals – media and Government Information Officers were hosted by the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) Implementation Unit of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat, during the course of this week. The first workshop was geared at media representatives from the CARIFORUM States, and the second was for Government Information Service (GIS) representatives also drawn from the CARIFORUM States. Both fora placed the spotlight on CARIFORUM-EU EPA implementation.
The Regional Media Workshop on the CARIFORUM-EU EPA took place from 14 to 15 March in Antigua and Barbuda. The Regional Workshop on the CARIFORUM-EU EPA for Senior Officers of the Government Information Services was slated for 17 to 18 March in St Kitts and Nevis.
As regards the workshop for the media, one representative from the print and one representative from the broadcast media have been invited from each CARIFORUM State. With respect to the GIS workshop, CARIFORUM States were invited to nominate one participant.
“The EPA Implementation Unit of the CARICOM Secretariat is charged with engaging an array of stakeholders, of which the media and Government Information Services form a part,” noted the Adviser to the Secretary-General on the Implementation of the EPA and Head of the EPA Implementation Unit of the CARICOM Secretariat, Mr Branford Isaacs. He added, “the workshops serve as important, novel platforms to sensitize media and GIS stakeholders on EPA implementation, as the implementation process gains pace.”
Mr Isaacs is on the roster of resource persons for both workshops, which include other specialists from the EPA Implementation Unit.
The workshops are designed to: (i) heighten participants’ awareness/understanding of the CARIFORUM-EU EPA and enable them to gain a deeper appreciation of the implementation obligations that have fallen to CARIFORUM States, as well as the benefits that are provided in the Agreement; (ii) examine techniques for communication professionals to report on and write short news pieces, as well as narrative features in the area of commercial diplomacy, through intensive modular-styled training sessions.
The workshops have drawn intense interest. Through the respective workshops, the EPA Implementation Unit is keen to solidify its relationship with media and GIS stakeholders, given the critically important role that they play in sensitizing the public. “It is anticipated that the workshops will form a basis for deepening and expanding engagement between the EPA Implementation Unit of the CARICOM Secretariat and the media and Government Information Services,” Mr Isaacs reckoned.
Both workshops are being funded under the 9th European Development Fund (EDF), Caribbean Integration Support Programme (CISP).
The fifteen signatory Caribbean Forum of African, Caribbean and Pacific (CARIFORUM) States to the EPA are the independent CARICOM Member States and the Dominican Republic.