Forum to focus on improving govt-public communication

sharjah — Making communication channels between governments and communities more effective by focusing on four core principles or pillars to guide teams will be the focus of the ninth edition of the International Government Communication Forum (IGCF). The forum will be held on March 4-5 in Sharjah.

The pathway to adopting a broader approach to defining and curating content and debating the strategic role of communication in an age of radical technology disruption will be among the key discussion topics. The region’s leading forum on government communication is defining a new and ambitious strategy based on its identification of core principles about the ‘how’ rather than the ‘what’ of communication and is on its way to pioneering what the forum calls Beyond Communications.

Announcing the two-day event, the International Government Communication Centre (IGCC), a subsidiary of the Sharjah Government Media Bureau (SGMB), said that the four pillars include Embedding a culture of engagement in government; Technology as a community enabler; Communication through culture; and Holistic wellbeing. By basing the forum’s discussions on these pillars, IGCF 2020 will look at how the core function of communication is penetrating all aspects of an organisation’s operations both internally and externally — now and into the future.

The 2020 edition will also mark the launch of IGCF Learn, a new capacity building platform offering multi-level multi-competency training, announced the organisers.

Featuring an extensive discussion agenda including panel discussions, inspirational speeches, workshops and interactive forums, speakers at the high-profile two-day global summit will include international media and PR stalwarts, policy experts, social entrepreneurs and communications and technology experts.

Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, Chairman of the Sharjah Media Council (SMC), emphasised that the major transformation in the upcoming edition is a reflection of the rapidly-changing global communications landscape itself, and a carefully-designed way forward for the forum’s discussions based on the previous editions’ accumulated experiences and accomplishments.

“Communication today is an integral underlying asset of any organisation,” he said. “It is not bound by topic, trends or time. Communication has evolved into an essential life skill especially as new breakthroughs are continuously being made in the way we communicate.”

Communication between government institutions and the general public helps build positive changes in communities as it empowers them to partner with governments to further the inclusive development goals of the country, he added.