About Us

About Us

Founded by E.K.Bensah Jr, an ECOWAS & AU Policy Analyst. Emmanuel is also a former host/Executive Producer of "Africa in Focus" Show on Radio XYZ93.1fm (2014-2016)

Our vision is to be a regional news service committed to demystifying; unpacking; and explaining West Africa (ECOWAS and allied institutions); East Africa; African Union.

Our objective: To respond to the dearth of information about what we see as an emerging ECOWAS private sector architecture.

Google tells you there is a strategy.

We believe ECOWAS has a lot more than a strategy that helps speak to the dynamic sub-region that has yet to tell its proper story on the private sector, including the AU Commodity Strategy.



  1. Why “Africa in Focus”? (AIF)
Africa In Focus is a Pan African media Platform that went Airborne in May 2014, the objective of the show is to educate the African populace about the African Integration, through the prism of developments in ECOWAS; the African Union; and other African countries. The show is an educational and informative one that calls on resource people from various parts of the sub-region, and rest of Africa to respond to the intellectual challenges of developing Africa.


Since 2014, the Show has become a reference point for quality analysis and insights on and about the continent.  The quality of the show is evidenced by its need for continuity on issues. In the past years several shows have been conducted on several areas. Few selected shows are presented in the table below ;


Theme of Episode
   
description
ECOWAS
7shows

Peace &Security
6 shows

East Africa Rising
6 shows

Agriculture
5 shows

Environment, forestry, climate change
5 shows

Africa aviation
4 shows

Drug Policy in West Africa
5 shows

UNSCR
3 shows



While similar Shows concern themselves mostly with international and African politics, AIF is interested in unpacking and demystifying dynamics of the regional and continental institutions, including explaining the numerous policies they work on. In addition, the host’s many writings on different aspects of Africa’s integration allows him to bring different topics, including Africa’s tourism and aviation industry, and the Continent’s Blue Economy to bear on programming. The host has also aired numerous shows on governance issues and corruption has also be tackled in the AIF programming .

The additionality of the host’s value-add comes also with being a member of the Ghana Chapter of the GIABA Media Network [GIABA is an ECOWAS agency responsible for protecting economies of West Africa through Anti-Money Laundering and Countering of Financing for Terrorism(AML/CFT) ], In addition, Emmanuel is a recent member of the Network of Economic Journalists in West Africa, which is a network backed and supported by the Niger-based Sub-Regional Office of the UNECA, and which was launched in September 2017 in Dakar, Senegal.

AIF is no stranger to tracking developments at both the regional and continental space. In 2015, the Research & Communications Unit (ReComm) created the unique Ecowas@40Podcast as a way of tracking news and developments within Ecowas up until its fortieth year celebration. The final episode -- the twentieth -- was produced in Kigali, Rwanda, at the AU’s Fourth High-Level Dialogue on Democracy & Development.


In the same year, on the celebration of International Democracy Day, ReComm mooted the #AfroDemocracy series as a way of tracking Africa’s democratic dispensation; its attitude to democracy; and its practice of democracy through the way it conducts elections.


Episodes can be found in the table below:

Episode #
Title
Episode #53
Towards Afro-Democracy? (1): Commemorating International Day of Democracy
Episode #57:
Afro-Democracy Look-Ahead
Episode #61:
Afro-Democracy(3): What’s Governance got to do with Democracy?
Episode #64
Afro-Democracy(4): #UgandaDecided; & Impact on Africa’s Peace & Security
Episode #85
AfroDemocracy(5): Unpacking & Demystifying the 27th African Union Summit
Episode #86
AfroDemocracy(6):Deconstructing #ZambiaDecides
Episode #91
AfroDemocracy(7): SDG 16 & Understanding & Celebrating the First International Day for Universal Access to Information
Episode #93
AfroDemocracy(8): SDG 16 vs. Agenda 2063

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

#EVENT: Three-Day Workshop on ECOWAS’ Free Movement & Regional Mechanism Opens in Accra

Image
Three-Day Workshop on ECOWAS' Free Movement & Regional Mechanism Opens in Accra By E.K.Bensah Jr Not many people know this, but apart from Nigeria hosting the ECOWAS Commission, Parliament; and Community Court of Justice, other member States of ECOWAS host other institutions. In fact, relatively well-distributed is the hosting that almost every member State of Ecowas hosts an Ecowas institution. Cote d'Ivoire is home to the ECOWAS Regional Monitoring Mechanism for the Free Movement of Inter-State Passenger Vehicles, Persons and Goods within ECOWAS . Established in conformity with the 1993 Revised Treaty of ECOWAS; the 1979 Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, Right of Residence and Establishment; 1985 Protocol of the Code of Conduct for the Implementation of the 1979 Protocol; 1985 Decision of Heads of State and Government instituting a travel document and the 45th Ordinary Session of Heads of State and Government held in 2014 adopting the Biometric ID Card, the Mechanism ...
Read more

NEW #IDEP COURSE: #Migration Policy, #Free Movement and Regional Integration in Africa

Image
The United Nations African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (UN-IDEP) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) have launched an online course on: " Migration Policy, Free Movement and Regional Integration in Africa " from 14th November 2022. The course aims to guide middle and senior level policymakers in Regional Economic Communities (RECs); Public Policymakers from National Governments; Stakeholders representing National and Regional Civil Society Organizations on the formulation of national and regional migration policies that will enhance regional integration and actively contribute to the implementation of countries' development strategies and international agreements in the area of migration. It will provide participants with the required knowledge and the appropriate tools to develop coherent migration policies at local, country, regional, cross-regional and continental levels. For further details, please find attached the announcement,...
Read more

NEWS: DIDIGU named interim executive director for ECOWAS Regional Competition Authority

Image
The ECOWAS Commission has announced the appointment of Mrs. Henrietta Uzoamaka Didigu, as the first Executive Director of the ECOWAS Regional Competition Authority (ERCA). According to a statement by the ECOWAS Commission on Monday in Abuja, the appointment, which is at the instance of the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, is for an interim period of 12 months, allowing the appointee to undertake crucial establishment activities that would lead to the full operationalization of ERCA in the shortest possible time. Prior to her appointment, Didigu, was the Technical Adviser on Institutional Reform to the President of the Commission. She brings on board, over 28 years' experience in regional integration and chaired, during the period, numerous high level negotiation missions, meetings and projects for country and region. Before joining the Commission in 2000, Didigu, who holds a Master's Degree in Law (LLM) from the prestigious Duke University of Law, N...
Read more