African anti-corruption agencies digital media progress 2021 March quarter

BRISBANE, Australia - June 15, 2021 - PRLog -- Growth in public interest in the work of African anti-corruption agencies' (ACAs) is continuing, particularly through social media. In this article John Leonardo reviews African ACAs' progress in using three digital platforms (websites, Facebook and Twitter) to promote transparency about their activities.

African ACA website visits fell 18.70% in the 2021 March quarter from the 2020 December quarter level. On the other hand, Facebook and Twitter followers increased 4.16% and 2.59% respectively between mid-January 2021 and early May 2021.

Overall African ACA Facebook and Twitter engagement levels in the 2021 March quarter should be capable of significant improvement. Numerous African ACAs have scope to  increase the frequency of their posting to Facebook and Twitter pages and also the quality of post and tweet content. Use of video in posts is limited. These changes would promote improvements in engagement levels.

More than half of the African ACAs with websites have published their annual reports online; however, less than half of them have published online their strategic plans and the prevailing national anti-corruption strategies (NACS). Increased attention is being given to the role of social media in African NACS documents, ACA annual reports and ACA strategic plans.

There are currently significant opportunities for numerous African ACAs to expand their digital media activities by maintaining websites on which to lodge national anti-corruption strategy, annual reports and strategic plans and provide anti-corruption advice to the public. This material can then be referred to in Facebook posts and tweets.

Those African ACAs with existing websites but without either Facebook or Twitter pages and are located in countries with relatively high Facebook and/or Twitter subscriber penetration levels should make good this omission.

All African ACA stakeholders should be encouraging ACAs to publish their reports online and use their social media pages to explain their work and successes. Development partners can also provide targeted support of related training and development activities.

The full article can be found on the PFMConnect blog website at: http://blog-pfmconnect.com/african-acas-digital-media-progress/

About the Author:

John Leonardo John Leonardo is a PFM expert with extensive worldwide experience including institutional strengthening and public engagement pertaining to PFM activities. He is a director of PFMConnect: john.leonardo@pfmconnect .com