Dept set to drive public awareness

The ministry and department for community development and religion (DFCDR) will go big on driving public advocacy and awareness on social issues this year.

This is part of its strategic direction to address particularly gender-based violence, including sorcery.

And the department aims to drive this further into communities using all forms of media and communication tools.

Announcing this today during its first press conference for the year, the Minister for Youth, Religion and Community Development, Soroi Eoe, and the Secretary for the Department for Community Development and Religion, Anna Solomon, called on the media to strengthen their partnership for this purpose.

In the last year, the department has established a relationship with media houses, welcoming suggestions on how to work together to address this on their respective platforms.

K10 million each has been allocated to address health and social issues through public advocacy and awareness.

With this budget in place, the department is putting together a media and communication strategy.

This strategy will form a guide on how to address key and sensitive issues in the media.

The department also introduced media awards as an incentive to encourage more focus by media in this area.

Eoe also called for responsible reporting, adding that the more negative light on this, in a way, promotes social issues.

“These type of problem are really the way we promote issues, creating negativity in minds of people who are either uneducated or of limited education and don’t really understand issues that go up. 

“We need positive mind change in this country,” he said.

Author: 
Gloria Bauai