Agenda 2063 recognizes that media, communication and ICT sectors must be seen as holistic and inclusive, ensuring access for all members of society to technology and the knowledge economy. This is the main reason the African Union through the Information and Communication Directorate created the AU Media Fellowship as a platform for African journalists and content creators to enhance their capacity to reframe the African narrative and to ensure that stories about the continent are balanced and true to the experiences of its people.
As part of the AU Media Fellowship Study tour, the Fellows visited the AUDA-NEPAD offices on Monday,5th December, 2022 in Midrand were hosted by the CEO, Nardos Bekele-Thomas. In her address she outlined the history of the Agency, from Secretariat to the Development Agency of the African Union and also spoke on the responsibility of African citizens to realise the vision of Agenda 2063 and quickly highlighted that the media in a development space should see themselves as agents of change by advocating for the mandate of AUDA-NEPAD, especially as tied to the Agenda 2063 vision and the Energize Africa initiative.
Energize Africa is an initiative of the AUDA-NEPAD. It is aimed at catalysing and harnessing youth' creativity and innovativeness into Africa's economic growth and development drive, whilst expanding income opportunities for the youth - through creation of jobs, innovation and entrepreneurship.
"The Agenda 2063 vision should be owned by every citizen of this continent. Every citizen of this continent must know about it and they must embrace it and fully understand what it's about. The same applies to Energize Africa," she said.
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The African Union Development Agency-NEPAD will work closely with the AU Media fellows to ensure that citizens are updated on the work done by the Agency as its mandate is really about the realisation of the Agenda 2063 vision of the Africa We Want.
The Media fellows have over a week, visited AU Organs: AUDA-NEPAD, Pan African Parliament, the African Peer Review Mechanism and Africa Risk Capacity. They also visited South African National Broadcaster - SABC, Multichoice and Brand SA.
Note to Editor
The AU Media Fellowship programme, is implemented by the African Union (AU) through the Information and Communication directorate, supported by the Germany Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ). Through the fellowship, the AU seeks to boost ownership of key policies and programs, and accelerate achievement of goals under its Agenda 2063, which center around delivering socio-economic and developmental changes on the continent.
