by Jean-Baptiste Lubamba
More than 30 journalist members of the Association of Agricultural Journalists of Congo (AJAC) gathered to build their capacity to be able to effectively participate in the promotion of family farming and to improve food security in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Organized by the National Support Centre for Development and Popular Participation (CENADEP) with financial support of SOS Faim Belgium, this Master Class revolved around the theme of pushing media professionals towards a serious subject: “Effective communications regarding the promotion of family farming in the DRC.” Participants came from provinces such as Kinshasa, Bandundu (now divided into three new provinces), Bas-Congo (now Central Kongo), Ecuador (divided into five); Kasai Oriental; Kasai Occidental; North Kivu, South Kivu and Orientale Province (divided in five).
This activity took place after the ‘Round Table’ which took place from March 14 to 16th in the INADES-Formation Congo on the theme’ ‘Family Farming: election issue for the DRC’ ‘. Various actors involved in family farming participated including small and large farmers, some parliamentarians, ministries such as Agriculture & Rural Development, Land Affairs, and Environment & Planning.
“Since 2013 the civil society organizations in the DRC have been working for the promotion of family farming and have set up a framework called the “National Committee for the Promotion of Family Farming in the DRC” (CNPAF) whose main objective is to contribute to the formulation and implementation of mechanisms for the promotion and protection of family farming in the DRC to ensure food security and autonomy of the Congolese people,” (from the terms of reference for these two activities).
For his part, Jean Baptiste Lubamba, outgoing president of AJAC-DRC said that “the Master Class was organized for two main reasons: training and information of journalists specialized in the field of agriculture who have to be trained and informed so that they can better inform the population in the rural communities. Because a good journalist specializing in agricultural issues must always renew his or her knowledge, recharge their resources to face the many new challenges related to the promotion of agriculture.”
He said the second reason for the Master Class was assessing the progress of the AJAC-DRC. In this respect the strengths and weaknesses were identified, along with appropriate solutions.
After the completion of the Round Table on family farming, the reporters followed matters relating to: the issues and perspectives of the PREPAR Project (building the political action capacities of farmer organizations and their national and provincial federations in DR Congo); on good communications to support family farming in the DRC; the status of agricultural legislation in the country; and Climate Change. The DRC and the COP 21 agreements – what will be the impact? etc.
The Master Class was also an opportunity for agricultural journalists to get information about AJAC-DRC, the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists, the AJAC website and the general direction of its new structure and 2016 action plan.
It should be noted that Jean-Baptiste Lubamba, former coordinator of AJAC-DRC, stepped down to allow Emmanuel Kokolo to become the new coordinator. Mr. Lubamba will, however, continues to sit at the national committee as an adviser.