Mission in East Africa
The AUB team’s mission to the Southern and the Eastern Africa regions
The digitization of the Union’s archives and the issue of content in the African media were at the center of discussions during the visit which took place from 11th to 28th August 2016.
For his first visit in the lands of Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Uganda since he took office, the Chief Executive Officer of the African Union of Broadcasting received a rather warm welcome. “Since the renaming of the former URTNA to African Union of Broadcasting [AUB] these member organizations had not had the opportunity to receive a visit of the union CEO in their respective countries, "said Mr. Grégoire Ndjaka, after the mission. In a nutshell, he is a man now confident in the future of the Union due to the reaction of the members to his visit. The mission began on 11 August 2016 and the first stop over was Maputo. On this visit, Mr. Ndjaka was accompanied by Madam Evelyne Faye, Head of Marketing and Communication Department at AUB. The goal of the visit was to renew contacts with the Director General of the National Radio and Television of Mozambique and its employees. From the outset, it was a matter of follow-up on the resolutions taken at the last meeting organized by AUB in Dakar on 17th May 2016, on the sports events broadcasting rights. The above event was major as it attracted the participation many African countries and personalities from the world of broadcasting. It should be noted that this meeting laid the foundation of a free discussion which dwelt on the rebroadcasting cost of sporting events by the African public service broadcasters. The CEO of AUB expressed his wish for the continued implementation of this resolution as of the above meeting which he reechoed to the other Media leaders of Zambia, Uganda and Zimbabwe. High on the agenda of the AUB "missionaries" was the thorny issue of content in the media in the digital age and the digitization of URTNA / AUB Archives. Stored for years in Nairobi, Kenya, these images depict whole sections of the African history, the lives of men and women who have marked the continent by their contribution in the fields of sports, science, economy, culture, politics, geography, agriculture, etc. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to secure what happened and in so doing safeguarding the collective memory of Africa. Staff training of African audiovisual media, real workhorse, did not escape the vigilance of Members of the African Union of Broadcasting. Although the transition from analog to digital is viewed as a significant advance, the fact remains that the technical staff assigned to the task are still struggling to master this technology, observed the national broadcasters. Mr. Ndjaka reassured the national organizations that their observation has not fallen on deaf ears. At the same time, the CEO was kin to attract many private actors in broadcast media wishing to become part of the AUB. Before leaving southern Africa, the Chief Executive Officer of the AUB did not fail to hint on the Overon project, and he reiterated the need for member organizations to join the " one Minute Project "which will be certainly a pledge of financial independence and progress for the Union. The mission, which ended on 28th August 2016, and these tours are intended to continue throughout the continent. http://www.rawmaterialcompany.org/_1448 Previoulsy published on 10/09/2016
