By Style Reporter
GWERU City Council was the toast of the day after scooping most accolades at the Awards of Excellence on Information dissemination on service delivery by local authorities’ communications and public relations practitioners for Covid-19.
The awards were organised by the Leadership Institute of Research and Development.
The organisation has been monitoring the operations of local authorities in containing Covid-19 in their respective jurisdictions since the advent of the pandemic in Zimbabwe.
“Local authorities are vital in the fight against Covid-19 as they are the providers of essential services,” the Leadership Institute of Research and Development said in a statement.
“As a result, we have been assessing the prioritisation of communication and interaction between the local authorities, residents and other key stakeholders.
“We looked at the platforms that the public relations officers are using to communicate on issues regarding service delivery. We looked at how effective these platforms are being utilised and how innovative the communicators have been since the onset of the Covid-19.”
The Leadership Institute of Research and Development said they had since realised that most communicators at local authorities were utilising both digital and traditional media platforms in communicating with residents and other key publics on issues to do with service delivery.
However, they noted that some communicators were using the media tools more effectively than others.
Gweru City Council communications and public relations officer Vimbai Chingwaramusee scooped the Best Performing Local Authority Public Relations Practitioner award and led her local authority to win gongs, including the best Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter, WhatsApp, as well as Mainstream Media.
Mutare City Council communications and public relations officer Spren Mutiwi and Harare City Council’s Michael Chideme were first runner-up and second runner-up respectively.