FAAPA empowers women leaders to provide effective leadership

The President of the Atlantic Federation of African Press Agencies (FAAPA), Mr. Khalil Hachimi Idrissi, Monday, opened a leadership enhancement seminar in the Moroccan capital of Rabat, for women from 20 African news agencies.

The five-day event aims at developing their soft skills, strengthening their knowledge and leadership abilities for the effective running of their organisations towards addressing the challenges the continent faces.

FAAPA is organising the seminar, under theme: “Women's Leadership: Needs and Strategies of African News Agencies”, at the African Center for the Training of Journalists, which is hosted by the Moroccan News Agency (MAP).

The 21 participants, comprising journalists, editors and executive officers are from countries including Ghana, Namibia, Togo, Cape Verde, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.

Mr. Hachimi Idrissi noted that African women were “very strong and productive” - playing critical roles in building society, especially, through family care and vibrant activities in the informal sector.

This notwithstanding, their positions and contributions were limited at the leadership and decision making levels in the corporate sphere.

He said, it was to help bring a balance in the news agencies that FAAPA decided to adopt a module initiated by women in MAP.

Under this module, the competencies of deserving women were upgraded through training and coaching to position them in leadership roles.

Additionally, a committee has been set up to mainstream the issues concerning women and their needs in the running of the Agency.

He urged the participants to share their rich experiences and use the pl
Madam Atika Abenkcer Zairi, a coach and strategist in personal branding, advised women to embrace opportunities to lead and not turn them down over fears of being unable to measure up to their responsibilities.

They should rather endeavour to learn along the journey to give of their best.

Ms. Maggy Thomas, the News Editor of the Namibia Press Agency, told the GNA that the seminar was important for her because the knowledge would help her to skillfully run the newsroom for greater productivity.

FAAPA, established in October 2014, is a professional platform to encourage the exchange of experiences and to promote cooperation among news agencies in all areas

of common interest - information, training and multimedia products.
FAAPA also strategises to position news agencies to remain relevant with regard to the fast-changing trends in multimedia technologies and is a champion of professional ethics.

The GNA is an active member of this federation.