A one-day media workshop on: “The Role of Business Associations in a Democratic Society and How Business Membership Organizations and the Media Can Work Together,” has opened in Jos, the Plateau State capital.
Organized by the Centre for International Private Enterprise and the Plateau Coalition of Business and Professional Associations, the training seeks to bridge the knowledge-gap of the media on the ways that the media can begin to work in concert with PLACOBPA towards achieving common goals.
At the opening ceremony, the resource persons, led by Marketing Communications/Public Affairs Advisor, Haroun Harry Audu, the sensitization focuses on bringing solutions to problems that have affected the growth and development of the business sector in Plateau State.
“You have been invited here this afternoon both to understand your role in the ongoing work championed by CIPE, delivered through PLACOBPA and to see how you are strategically positioned not only to report the work of the coalitions, but to recognise that you have an equal stake in shaping the business sector in Plateau State for the better, in the way that you have also envisioned it.
“Since 2008, CIPE has worked to strengthen the capacity of state-based Coalitions of Business and Professional Associations to drive grass advocacy reforms for its members. Owing to CIPE’s work, these coalitions have successfully advocated for market-oriented reforms through single-issue advocacy campaigns.
“This workshop is similarly aimed at deepening your understanding, as the media, on the ways you can partner with the coalition towards its advocacy campaigns. This is therefore a capacity-building initiative for Editors, Business Desk Managers and Correspondents who make up the top brass of the media.
“COBPA’s, which are comprised of Business and Professional Bodies, including the media, recognise that the media is an important plank for the continuing survival of the several medium, small and micro enterprises, who need your partnership to shore up opportunities for their businesses and professions to thrive.”
The programme continues with a launch event on Friday at the Banquet Hall, Hill Station Hotel at 10am.
According to Audu, the Business Agendas are important tools that allow private sector actors to collectively identify and discuss the obstacles to the development and growth of the business sector, and propose potential solutions to those problems.
He said: “This launch is expected to draw participants from the Executive and Legislature, policy makers, business owners, professional bodies and all relevant stakeholders who will be beneficiaries of the agenda.
“The BA launch will be immediately followed by advocacy campaigns to policy makers, where PLACOBPA will be pressing for the implementation of the policies, which were formulated in the BA.
“This is where your strategic partnership is most coveted, as you deliberately lend your voice and vehicles to drive the much needed reforms that the advocacy campaigns will seek. We are confident that the media’s role in the unfolding of this process will endure and yield mutually beneficial results in the medium to long term.
“CIPE’s has been strengthening democracy around the globe through private enterprise and market-oriented reform. It is one of the four core institutes of the National Endowment for Democracy.
“Since 1983, the Centre has worked with business leaders, policymakers, and journalists to build the civic institutions vital to a democratic society. Its key programme areas include Anti-corruption, Advocacy, Business Associations, Corporate Governance, Democratic Governance, Access to Information, the informal sector and property rights, and Women and Youth, and it does this through the Identification of Priority Issues affecting the growth of Business activities, Conduct of field surveys on the identified issues, Formulation of Policy briefs and Preliminary visits to relevant Government agencies.”
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