After two successful 3rd country activities*, as we call them, the Egmont Institute will organise an upcoming Crisis Communication training in a residential format in Cotonou, Benin, from 24 to 27 October 2023. This is the first training they will organize under the EUCTI umbrella.
In a world of ongoing global and regional crises, political instabilities and natural disasters, timely and transparent crisis communication plays a crucial role in maintaining public trust and order. It is as much so in Benin, where regional challenges such as border disputes, fear of terrorism spillover and regional conflicts are often on the agenda of various stakeholders. Therefore, effective crisis communication with peace actors in the region, neighbouring countries and other political actors is crucial for maintaining security and cooperation nationwide and regionally.
Crisis Communication – what and for whom?
This capacity-building training will benefit the staff of the Directorate for Training and Sports of the Benin Republican Police, which includes trainers and police personnel in charge of communication, as well as pertinent officials from the Centre for Crisis Prevention and Management.
Throughout the training, the participants will enhance their abilities to communicate clearly and effectively in crises. They will focus on maintaining credibility and narrative control in the digital environment.
The course is organised to be very interactive and participant-focused. Particular attention will be paid to maintaining the balance between theory and practice to ensure the participants gain as much from this training as possible. Their newly acquired knowledge will be stress-tested via various crisis simulations. Under intense time pressure, the participants will be required to participate in crisis meetings, brief their colleagues, and write press statements. The entire course will be conducted in French, the official language of Benin.
We wish all participants a successful training, many new insights and newly gained knowledge, and to take the opportunity to engage in peer-to-peer experience sharing.
* At the beginning of the EUCTI project its partners set a goal for themselves: to build the capacity of training organisations in third countries – in particular non-EU CSDP contributing countries, Western Balkans, Eastern Partnership and member states of the African Union. The purpose of this activity is to better plan the training efforts for training their personnel to participate in international missions. In this way, EUCTI can contribute to a global exchange on best practices and lessons learned, thus supporting the international community of practitioners.