FactSpace West Africa has supported the ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions (ECONEC) in training about 30 electoral commission officials from The Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone to be more responsive to emerging online threats and risks.

The regional workshop was under the theme: “Developing an Actionable External Communication  Plan for Improved Relationships between EMBs and Electoral Stakeholders.”

The 4-day training workshop organized in Banjul, The Gambia focused on helping the Election Management Bodies (EMBs) from the 3 countries to develop an actionable external communication plan with emphasis on proactively tackling misinformation and disinformation campaigns.

Electoral officials from The Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone participating in a regional workshop in Banjul

Furthermore, this sort to strengthen the capacity of Election Management Bodies’ Communication Department staff, prior to the next elections in The Gambia (May 2023), Sierra Leone (June 2023) and Liberia (October 2023).

The stability of the West African sub-region is recently being jeopardized by coup d’états, organized crime and terrorism, while a number of young democracies in the region are being weakened due to the weaponization of misinformation to exploit ethnic fault lines and existing political tensions.

Demba Kandeh, a facilitator of one of the sessions

Communication technologies and approaches have evolved rapidly in the past decade and new opportunities for engaging people in social change processes have opened up.

At the same time, factors such as changing demographics, globalization, social conflicts, climate change, disease, pandemics and epidemics, movements of migrant and refugee populations, and rapid urbanization have posed new challenges and requirements for innovation in the development and communication sectors.

Rabiu Alhassan engaging participants during his session

Organizing successful, free – fair – transparent – peaceful – credible and inclusive elections, with outcomes accepted by electoral stakeholders, including the general public, remains fundamental for the consolidation of democracy, peace and political stability in the sub-region.

 

By: FactSpace WA

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