IMBISA

INTER-REGIONAL MEETING OF THE BISHOPS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA ASSOCIAO INTER-REGIONAL DOS BISHOPS DA AFRICA AUSTRAL

COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE

30th May 2013 Ref 009/2013

IMBISA New Media workshop 20th to 24th May 2013, Cape Town, South Africa

Picture: Conference Attendees pose for a group picture

The workshop was designed for General Secretaries and Communications Coordinators of Bishops Conferences in the IMBISA Region. Twelve representatives of the Bishops conferences in Angola, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe were attendance. The aim of the workshop was to introduce these people to new forms of media and technology in order to provide a wider forum for evangelisation, promote good governance and justice and peace in accordance with Africae Munus and to improve communication between conferences in the region. It was intended that the workshop would strengthen the Catholic Churches internal communication network in the IMBISA region and place it in a position of strength to

Communications Department: communications@imbisa.com Also find IMBISA on Facebook and Twitter

Website: www.imbisa.wordpress.com

communicate with all people in the region as the use of the internet and new media grows. In order to facilitate these aims a number of experts and communications professionals were engaged to present on a range of topics, case studies and practical sessions. The keynote address was presented by Mr Benedito Marime on the topic of Africae Munus and the media. Mr Marime explored how the Catholic Church sees the media and how the media can be used by the church in promoting good governance and justice and peace. Attendees were then addressed by Mr David Duarte (see picture below), a global expert in the internet and the use/influence of social media. He gave a run down of the influence of the internet around the globe and then put it in the context of Africa. He said that although Africa can be seen as the dark continent of internet use this is changing very rapidly. In the last 4 years the amount of internet use in Africa has increased six fold and this trend is expected to continue. He sees 2014 as the year that the internet becomes main stream in Africa so by developing websites and good social media networks now you will be ahead of the game. Day 2 began with the return of Mr Duarte who led a session on how to create and update websites using Wordpress and how to create a personal and organisational twitter profile. The result was the creation of 13 new websites ranging from personal sites (e.g. http://richardmenatsi.wordpress.com/about/) to specific sites for the conferences communications and justice and peace departments (e.g. http://lcbcccjp.wordpress.com/ and http://mutadanza.wordpress.com/). IMBISA also created a new website http://imbisa.wordpress.com/ which will be used as the main website and updated with new articles as well as historical documents. Each attendee also created a personal Twitter profile and followed the @IMBISA twitter account. This will ensure they receive information from IMBISA as soon as it published online. The workshop was a great success and thanks must be given to both the expert speakers and attendees whose diligence and commitment was pivotal in ensuring that the goals of the workshop were met. IMBISA Communications

Communications Department: communications@imbisa.com Also find IMBISA on Facebook and Twitter

Website: www.imbisa.org