Dear Partners, colleagues and friends of Somaliland Media,
Somaliland National Media Summit and Awke Media Award are two essential events jointly organized by Somaliland Journalists Association (SOLJA) annually, in this year we held 10-11 November 2018. Somaliland National Media Summit with Awke Media Award 2018 hosted key figures and participants from the three arms of the government, the media owners, the media practitioners (male and female journalists), the regional delegates, The Civil society organization and the Human rights organizations where they discuss the media situation in Somaliland and collectively bind their forces to end violations against media, improve the capacity of media practitioners, rewards journalists who report social developing issues for public benefit and any generally discuss efforst and the way forward in creating a fostering environment for Somaliland media practitioners.
Here is an overviews of speeches and presentations made during the Summit:
This years delegates including the Minister of information & Cultural Awareness with their deep and real concerns on Somaliland media development and remarkable recommendations for Somaliland journalists pointing out the vitality of spreading fair and true news to the public; the Minister of Technology and Telecommunication with his willingness to work with journalists and media professionals to ensure current media status is digitized to make easier for the government and the society to receive evidence based information to make decisions; Osman Warsame the Director General of the Ministry of Information and Cultural Awareness also shed the light on their plans to create legal and regulatory frameworks favorable for Somaliland journalists to find enabling environment for their work. Also, Sh. Khalil Abdillahi, the Minister of Religious Affairs, gave brief background information on how media has shaped Somaliland democracy plus the associated risks of fake news which can lead violent conflicts to the country. These joint events also convened senior PM and policy makers namely Ahmed Dualewho put more emphasis on the importance of increase journalist educational status which will prevent them from further detentions to take place. Equally members from the two opposition parties(Waddani and UCID) highlighted that media improvement and the production of comprehensive media law is part of their policies and lately called for the ruling party to respect the rule of law and stop the illegal imprisonment of journalists.
Abdikadir Askar and Abdukreem Salat, Leading media experts, made presentations reflecting the role of media on Somaliland democratization and conflict sensitivity reporting which provided insightful takeaway lessons for their day-to-day professional activities. Above all, high level panel discussions about the active role of media on human rights protection, potential challenges & core considerations of Somaliland journalists present in the regions to better improve their professional profile and most of all make more discussions on Somaliland media code of conduct and Somaliland media law which is being amended by senior journalists together a legal advisor.
In a nutshell, The Evaluation committee who were a senior journalists formulated by SOLJA for the call for applications, setting rules, evaluation criteria who have been working in a couple of months have announced the winners of Awke Media Award 2018 and then Mr. Mohamud Abdi, SOLJA Chairman officially presented closing remarks with recommendations afterwards. Prior to the closing remarks, SOLJA Chairman, the Executive Director had the opportunity to put forward their strategic directions and thanked NED for their financial and moral support of 2018 summit.
If you prefer to get more information regarding the Somaliland media summit 2018 or willing to be involved in the following year 2019 please contact to me any time you feel convenience.
