Governance Institute for Sustainable Development

Journalists’ training on effective economic reporting
By Mzimkhulu Sithetho
MASERU – The Revenue Services Lesotho (RSL) engaged the Governance Institute for Sustainable Development (GISD) to conduct a two-day capacity-building of 21 journalists on effective economic reporting. I conducted the training on behalf of the GISD.
The two-day training (16-17 September, 2025) was intended to 1) equip local media practitioners and journalists with skills on how to effectively report on their country’s economy.
The training was aimed at 2) identifying and bridging reporting gaps, especially on the economy by the local media. It was further intended to 3) build a crop of journalists who can promote citizens’ interest in leaning about their country’s economy.
It was also the objective of the training to 4) upgrade economic reporting as one of the important reporting beats within newsrooms.

I participated in a Symposium on "Utilising Social Media for Public Relations Success', organised by 2nd and 3rd Year Students of the Faculty of Communication, Media and Broadcasting of the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (LUCT) Lesotho. The Symposium took place on Wednesday, 13th November, 2024 at the University's campus in Maseru. The objective of the Symposium was to share knowledge on the use of diverse social media in the communication sphere. I was requested to make a presentation, highlighting possibiities and challenges brought about by the different social media platforms. The hosting of this Symposium was informed by a study that had been conducted by the students in the mentioned discipline, who found out that there is a gap in the use of social media platforms in advancing public relations and media content in the country.
The Symposium underscored the need for public relations practitioners to leverage social media in their daily work. It noted the swiftness of the change in the sphere of communictions and media, which is underpinned by the advent of Facebook, X, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok and many others. It identified benefits that public relations practitioners could derive from using social media in their PR practice such as speed, efficiency and greater reach. Participants at the Symposium emphasised the dire need for PR practitioners to place a high premium on the social media and the digital networks and avoid lagging behind the tide of swift transitions. It was indeed a great experience. I benefitted a lot from other presentations, which were an eye-opener, including the one which was made by the Lesotho Mountain Police Service (LMPS), whic presented on cyber bullying and the closing remarks made by the Vice-Chancellor, Advocate Tefo Macheli.
I applaud the University for engaging industry practitioners in an attempt to take the students outside the classroom environment to the real workplace environment, by exposing them to industry practitioners.

Today, Managing Directir of the Governance Institute for Sustainable Development conducting a training for community radio stations on effective broadcasting. The training is hosted by MISA Lesotho as part of the bridging an information gap in the Bridging the information gap in areas where mainstream media does not reach through capacity building of community radio. The workshop is held in one of the hospitality outliets in Maseru. The training is supproted by the U.S. Embassy Maseru. The training ends on Friday, 7th November 2024.
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