Chronicle Editor
Leonard Ncube, [email protected]
THE African Union Commission (AUC) is conducting a migration simulation training for media practitioners who include journalists and academics in Victoria Falls with the objective of introducing a training manual created on migration in the continent.
The simulation training which ends of Friday,is focusing on myths and reality of migration in Africa and is organised within the framework of the AU Migration Governance Training Programme . The training which is supported by the AU-EU Continent-to-Continent Migration and Mobility Dialogue is implemented by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), within the wider EU-funded Migration and Mobility Dialogue (MMD) Support Programme.
Participants are drawn from practicing journalists, academics, media federations and unions from across the continent.
Africa has several migration legal instruments and policies that provide the Continent, Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Member States with guidance on migration management, including the 2006 AU Migration Policy Framework for Africa (2006 MPFA).
In 2016, the AUC embarked on an evaluation of the 2006 MPFA and one of the findings of the evaluation was that there is a gap between countries’ commitment and their actual technical capacity to handle migration issues, hence the workshop.
The workshop seeks to create awareness among African media practitioners and communication specialists on the migration situation in Africa, enhance understanding of migration governance, the ecosystem, stakeholders, and initiatives to address the phenomenon, equipping journalists with the tools to develop their practical skills, and explore the role that the media and civic society can play in migration governance, and in reporting factually about migration in Africa, and the African Union position on migration towards Africa Agenda 2063.
Senior Technical Advisor – Migration Governance and Liaison in the AUC Mr Peter Mudungwe said the training manual into which participants are to input, is a culmination of several months of hardwork.
Ms Barbara Cuzuioc Weiss, ICMPD senior programme officer said the manual doesn’t not target policy makers or diplomats but journalists so as to inculcate reportage that promotes African agenda on reporting about migration.
Zimbabwe Immigration Chief Director Ms Respect Gono who was guest speaker at the welcome ceremony on Monday, said Government was grateful to the AU, EU and ICMPD for choosing to conduct the training in Zimbabwe.
She implored journalists to write truthfully while complementing the continent’s agenda for the Africa We Want.
“It is an honour to be recognized by esteemed organizations like the AUC and the ICMPD, as a suitable host for a training programme of this nature. It is also an honour to be graced by the presence of such distinguished participants.
“This training workshop has come at a time when African migration is continuously suffering from negative reportage, misrepresentation, exaggeration, stereotyping and amplification of its trends, direction and magnitude resulting in the distortion of the truth about migration. “African migration is usually projected as massive movement happening in irregular fashion and directed towards Europe, narratives that have been debunked by statistics,” she said.
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