MONROVIA, November 25 (LINA) -The African Media Initiative (AMI) and the United Religions Initiative (URI) have agreed to work together to develop a network of journalists that will focus on issues of peace and conflict in Africa.
An agreement in principle was reached during a meeting held last week in Nairobi between the Regional Director of URI, Ambassador Mussie Hailu, and the Chief Executive Officer of AMI, Eric Chinje.
A release from AMI in Nairobi issued on Tuesday says the meeting discussed AMI’s program to work with media professionals to reduce the gap between media content and the development agenda of African countries.
This includes efforts to guarantee peaceful coexistence on the continent.
Ambassador Hailu pointed out the critical importance of the religious dimension in peace building and the need to incorporate that into AMI’s training programs.
Chinje agreed, noting that, “development cannot take place in an environment of conflict, and this is why all regional actors involved in peace-building should contribute to efforts to bring the media into their programs.”
AMI is the continent’s largest umbrella association of African media owners, senior executives and other industry stakeholders.
Its mandate is to serve as a catalyst for strengthening African media by building the tools, knowledge resources and technical capacity for African media to play an effective public interest role in their societies.
LINA