African Leadership Academy Model African Union simulates all aspects of the African Union conference, right down to having its very own Press Corps – complete with publications. As a member of African Leadership Academy Model African Union PressCorp Committe Temilolu Awofeso brings an inside take on the recent ALAMAU Conference by detailing the dynamics of Press Conferences.
ALAMAU 2018 took its final bow on March 29, with a bang by the gravel from our 2019 Chairperson herself, Asha Guled from Somali. Working as an Associate Director of The Press corps Committee for such a short period of time was truly the most insightful, pressure-driven and creativity-oriented work experience I have ever had outside my home country.
My favorite part of ALAMAU was definitely meeting new people and learning new things. The Press Corp Director, Sandra Chipeta, set an exceptional example for the infant delegates to follow on this exciting journey of becoming budding journalists, storytellers and writers of the conference’s respective events and the engaging committee sessions. The delegates seemed eager and wiling to work, making the editing process much easier from our side.
One thing that stood out for me was the fresh and innovative ideas when creativity bars were at the lowest. Delegates began developing eccentric yet intriguing articles on the extraordinary events of the conference, consisting of: ALApella’s Lion King Tribute Performance, the “Behind the Scenes” work of the 2018 Staff to the beautiful Parade of Nations! Speaking as a first-time staff member for ALAMAU as an editor with an edge, I can truly say that this was a groundbreaking experience for my fellow Year 1 Staff Members and I.
In my opinion, I believe that the most engaging sessions we had in our committee occured during our “after-Press-Conference” debriefs. This gave us a chance to understand each other more, sitting down in a ring while we play interactive games that help us understand where we stand as writers, while exploring other aspects of the Conference to write about. For the delegates, I really believe that this helped spark new ideas in their minds. They responded to this through establishing gritty articles on Crazy Socks, from the picturesque visuals of the Conference dynamics, insights on Ambassador Renee Sanders’s words during the Diplomatic Roundtable on what it truly means to be a diplomat unto the importance of communication. This came all the way down to writing about their interviews with the Director of Finance, Trevor Lwere, and the 2018 Chairperson himself, Mubarak Adetunji.
Meeting new people, exploring new perspectives and drafting methods of tacking Africa’s biggest issues, is a sure way to get youths engaged in the goal of accelerating the continent’s growth and understanding how strong foundations can be established for a sustainable future.
