BRIDGE Media and Elections in Guinea-Bissau

30 June 2011

From 20 to 22 June, the BRIDGE workshop on Media and Elections was conducted in Portuguese in Guinea Bissau in the context of the Project in Support of the 2010-2013 Electoral Cycles of the Portuguese Speaking African Countries and Timor Leste (PRO PALOP TL).

The aim of the workshop was to analyze the respective roles and improve the relations between the media and the electoral management bodies, in order to promote greater understanding and transparency in the conduct of the electoral processes in Guinea-Bissau. 

The 26 participants included journalists and managers from many of the print, radio and television media houses, media regulatory bodies, as well representatives of electoral management bodies with responsibility for media relations.  Topics covered included: Defining the types and role of the media, media regulatory bodies, media-EMB Relations, codes of conduct and communication planning.

In addition, there was also a presentation on the Mozambican experience of media relations during their local elections. The head of the press office of the Technical Secretariat for the Organizations of the Elections in Mozambique, Lucas Jose Manjaze, who participated and contributed to the workshop indicated the need to organize a similar workshop in Mozambique in the upcoming months within the framework of the PRO PALOP TL project.

In their evaluations, the participants expressed their overall satisfaction with the course and emphasized the need for more courses of this genre. 

During the workshop, Alain Sanka of GTAPE (the governmental entity responsible for voter registration in Guinea-Bissau), Diamantino Gomes Barai from CNE (the National Elections Commission) and Sofia Almeida from the project management team of the PRO PALOP TL were fully accredited. 

The accrediting facilitator for the course was Deryck Fritz, along with the workshop facilitator Ricardo Godinho Gomes Electoral Assistance specialist of the PRO PALOP TL project management team.

The Pro PALOP-TL is geographically concentrated on strengthening electoral processes and related institutions in Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, and Timor Leste.  It is fully funded by the EU with 6.1 million EURO, implemented by UNDP and Guinea Bissau.

For more info on the BRIDGE strategy of the PRO PALOP TL see @ http://www.bridge-project.org/news/africa/916-bridge-and-the-portuguese-speaking-countries-in-africa-and-timor-leste. For more info on the PRO PALOP TL itself see @ www.propaplop.org

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