Sharjah Media Centre reveals Recommendations of Government Communication Forum 0

His Excellency Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qassimi, Chairman of Sharjah Media Centre, announced the new naming of the Government Communication Forum after conferring it with an international standard, making it the International Government Communication Forum. This decision came as a result of the recommendations made by the participants during the forum's last edition, due to the immense international attention the forum attracted in its 2013 edition.

The second edition of the forum, themed Effective communication Unified message , was held on the 24th and 25th of February 2013, and witnessed the participation of over 40 renowned media and communication personalities from all over the world. Some of the most notable participants were His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdo an, Prime Minister of Turkey, Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations and Amre Moussa, former Secretary-General of the Arab League. The event attracted more than 2,500 attendees, and achieved huge media coverage on an international scale.

This announcement came during a press conference held by Sharjah Media Centre on Thursday, 25 April, 2013, to announce the recommendations of the Government Communication Forum 2013, in the presence of Osama Samra, Director of Sharjah Media Centre.

His Excellency Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qassimi, emphasized on the importance of the recommendations as a tool to benchmark government communication practices in Sharjah. He also stated that Sharjah Media Centre will ensure the immediate translation of these recommendations into mechanisms that serve government communication.

His Excellency said: At Sharjah Media Centre, we ensure that the Government Communication Forum is the pioneer in developing government communication practices all over the world. Upon the completion of the forum's second edition, and in accordance with the directives of Sharjah's Executive Council, we started implementing a number of the mechanisms extracted from the recommendations, which is one of the missions of Sharjah's Government Communication Unit, was established under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, UAE Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, in order to create a unified identity for all Sharjah's government departments by consolidating joint coordination and unifying the government's message to enable government institutions to speak with one voice.

Osama Samra, Director of Sharjah Media Centre, presented the recommendations of the Government Communication Forum 2013, which are based on a number of core values, most importantly: observation and listening, interaction and communication, proactive communication, government communication units and the strategy of government communication.

Observation and listening focuses on the public's reaction to the government's messages, while aiming to shift from Talking to people to talking with people, while interaction and communication works towards earning the trust of the public and enabling them to be part of the decision making process.

Proactive communication entails having continuously existing channels for transparent communication between the people and the government, allowing for a strategically interactive dialogue between the two sides.

Moreover, the recommendations stressed on the importance of creating and sustaining government communication units that would strengthen the communication among the government departments themselves, and therefore between the government and the public in an accurate, timely and transparent manner.

The recommendations also called upon government officials to ensure that both vision and strategy are consistent with each other, and are clear to the public.

LINK:	http://www.sharjahmedia.ae/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&i...
	See more stories from sharjah

Most recent headlines