MAKHANDA, South Africa – Government communicators have commended the one-week media management short course run by the Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership that explores various media tools which can assist them in producing effective communications strategies for their organisations.
The participants of the short course, titled "Government Media: Essential Tools for Editors and Journalists", which took place in Makhanda from 18 - 22 October 2021, highlighted different ways in which the course will capacitate them as better communicators.
The course, held at the School of Journalism and Media Studies, focused on a range of strategies that government communication officers need to use in their work to communicate better and more effectively with their various constituents. It also focused on how to manage and lead their organisations in a rapidly changing media landscape.
Siphokazi Nonyukela from the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) said, "All the elements covered in the course were effective to me as a government communicator." She did, however, highlight that the development of communication strategies and management and leadership were the modules that she would use most at the workplace because they are part of her duties as the Assistant Director for Corporate Communications.
Another course participant from COGTA - EC said the Leadership and Management skills module emphasised that communication cannot be divorced from leadership, which impacts organisations' overall operations.
For Vuyani Sibene, the Assistant Communications Director at COGTA, some of the most thought-provoking parts of the training were handling campaigns and social media strategies.
One of the course participants from STATSA stated that "handling the media and ways of sustaining a healthy relationship with the media" are crucial takeaways from the course.
The course targets communicators who work in the national, provincial, district and municipal government communications departments who regularly interface with the media.
All the participants noted that they would recommend this course to other communicators ad they believe it would be of great value to everyone in the field of communication.
The SPI runs a basket of other accredited professional media management and media business courses (please visit www.ru.ac.za/spi/) and offers the only formal postgraduate qualification in media management in Africa and the developing world.
The postgraduate course, currently offered on a one-year fulltime-basis and as two-year distance programme, has graduated more than 500 of these top-level aspirant media leaders since 2004 when this qualification was established. Most of these media management postgraduates today occupy senior positions in the media in Africa and internationally.
The SPI has also trained more than 5,000 media workers from across Africa on its accredited and certificated short courses since the Institute's launch in 2002.
For more information about the SPI's short courses, please contact the Institute's Course Co-ordinator, Mbali Buthelezi, at m.buthelezi@ru.ac.za, or call her on 046 603 8949.