Nice Trust persuade  the media to publicise Sadc activities

National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice) Trust through its Sadc Regional Integration Project has started engaging the media to popularize regional integration and its protocols to the public as Malawi is preparing to assume the chairmanship of the regional bloc.

Nice/Sadc Regional Integration Project Coordinator,  Enock Chinkhuntha said this in Lilongwe on Friday during an interface meeting with the media that there is need for citizens to be connected and informed about regional bodies like Sadc if the concept of regional integration is to bring democratic fruits.

” Through the project, we want to raise awareness and action among the district council leaders on Malawi’s membership in Sadc and how they can mobilize citizens to actively participate in economic activities, ” he said.

He said the project’s interventions in the country are primarily on building awareness among the general population and key stakeholders that they take part in decision making, monitoring of Sadc decisions by government.

‘The fact remains that government and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) has not done much effort in publicizing the interventions by Sadc, media is a key partner in dissemination to inform and educate the public on regional integration and protocols that the country signed,” he observed.

Civic education remains critical if Sadc was to largely accepted as people’s organisation and not be perceived as a club of presidents, he said.

Nice Trust started the implementation of Sadc Regional Integration project in 2014 with funding from German government through GIZ program.

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