Regional PR Professional Bodies Revive EAPRA
The Public Relations professionals bodies from the East Africa region have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in an effort to revive and operationalize the defunct East African Public Relations Associations (EAPRA).
The three bodies: Public Relations Society of Kenya (PRSK); Public Relations Association of Uganda (PRAU) and Public Relations Society of Tanzania (PRST) have developed an MOU with areas of collaboration that will uphold the stature of PR in the region, a move that has been long overdue.
Regional unity is key to the growth of the profession and this timely collaboration comes at a time that the profession is gaining traction in both private and public sectors.
“Reviving EAPRA will include coming up with relevant regional programs that target PR practitioners in the three regions and jointly seeking funds that will operationalize and finance proposed projects,’’ PRSK President Dr Marube noted.
As the East African community continues to seek ways of working together by establishing policies that will foster economic and political growth in the region, this MOU will see communication professionals exploring the opportunities available in the three countries. This could offer a solution to the current unemployment crisis in Kenya with the majority of youth decrying the lack of job opportunities.
“We welcome and are ready to support the proposed programs that will be run by the three regional bodies because challenges in the profession isn’t unique to Uganda.” PRAU President Sarah Kagingo observed.
EAPRA chairmanship will be rotational with Kenya taking the first 1-year term from 2020 to 2021 during which a multi-organized regional EAPRA conference will be hosted in the country. The three bodies will collectively market and mobilize attendance for the conference.
Subscribing to EAPRA would see professionals in the respective member bodies reap benefits galore. Notable among them would be personal professional growth that will encourage idea-sharing and benchmarking activities that will help professionals learn a thing or two in the profession.
“The communication profession is yet to come of age in our three countries because of the challenges that we face. I am glad PRSK is working towards regulating professionals through an Act of Parliament. Tanzania could largely learn from this experience and we are really excited to this renewed partnership,” PRST President Loth Makuza noted.
Currently the region has over 7000 practising practitioners operating at different levels of the organization.
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