Writing for the Web in Ethiopia
By Miles Sedgwick, April 13, 2015
Over the past two years, we have had the honor of working with the Ethiopian Ministry of Health’s Public Relations and Communication Directorate (PRCD). One project we worked on together was a redesign of the Ministry’s website—one that would make it easier to share important health updates with Ethiopia and the world.
The most valuable asset of a great website, in Ethiopia or anywhere in the world, is great content. After rebuilding the website from the ground up, the next step was to ensure quality and consistent content. These come from having the right teams in place and a strong understanding of audience, messages, and the purpose of a website. So, during the first part of our two-day workshop with the PRCD, we mapped out their workflow, read and learned from examples of great content, and discussed their goals.
Then we got to work planning, writing and editing content for an upcoming set of events the Ministry was preparing for. They developed specific editorial plans, drafted news and feature stories for their website and developed accompanying Facebook and Twitter posts. One highlight of our workshop occurred during our session on Twitter when we lost power (and by proxy, our internet connection). We “tweeted” offline, using markers and paper and taped all the tweets on to the wall (a physical one, not a virtual one!). We then used sticky notes to “retweet” one another’s posts. Everyone competed to see who could write the best tweets, and we had some wonderful examples of best Twitter practices to share and discuss as a group.
Thank you PRCD for your engagement, enthusiasm and most importantly—your passionate drive to improve the lives of all Ethiopians. We look forward to checking the website for the Ministry’s updates and content going forward!
