Office for the Coordination of Foreign Aid hosts workshop on humanitarian reporting

The workshop focused on the main considerations for UAE donor and charitable organizations when reporting on humanitarian issues, including tools and techniques. OCFA highlighted some of its publications, and encouraged participants to provide information about their activities as part of OCFA's efforts to provide information about the UAE foreign aid sector to the international community.

OCFA's Executive Director, Sultan Muhammad Al Shamsi, said, "Recent endeavors to make reporting of foreign aid missions more streamlined and transparent have resulted in the UAE's foreign aid sector receiving consistently high coverage. However, there is a great deal of potential to increase both the national awareness of current humanitarian crises, as well as international awareness of the country's foreign aid activities. At previous OCFA workshops, UAE-based donors expressed a desire for increased support in achieving these goals by enhancing their reporting efforts, crisis communications and media training."

The workshop was facilitated by Khaled Khalifa, Chief of the United Nations Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN) Regional Bureau. Speaking at the workshop, he said, "As this year's series of events have proven, communication, public advocacy and popular support are key for attaining shared goals. UAE donor organizations are playing an increasing role in the field. Improving the communication functions of these organizations should improve the visibility of their contributions and in turn increase international recognition of UAE efforts."

Participants also heard from broadcast journalist Mohammed Al Tomaihi, who explained how news channels react to humanitarian crises, and gave recommendations as to how to draw media attention to emergency situations.