Swakopmund: The official opening of the Effective Communicators Conference (ECC26) takes place in Swakopmund on Thursday, presided over by Namibia's Vice President, Lucia Witbooi, and Botswana's Vice President, Ndaba Gaolathe.
According to Namibia Press Agency, following the official opening, Thursday's sessions are set to include a presentation on developing a communication strategy for a changing world by communications strategist Hilda Basson-Namundjebo, and a session on artificial intelligence in communication workflows by AI expert and New Creation Solutions managing director Stantin Siebritz.
Afternoon cluster sessions will cover organisational intelligence presented by Hekami Agency managing director, Johannes Hangula, and brand building, presented by MTC's chief brand, marketing, communications and sustainability officer, Tim Ekandjo. Subsequent sessions will focus on public trust, presented by Namcor's marketing, communications and public relations manager Paulo Coelho, and on media literacy, presented by Namibian Sun editor Toivo Ndjebela.
Proceedings opened on Wednesday with a panel on the African Public Relations Association (APRA)'s 2026 forum. This panel was moderated by APRA secretary-general Omoniyi Ibietan and featured Zaffico PLC director Irene Lungu, chairperson of the WPRF/APRA 2026 planning committee, Prof Emmanuel Dandaura, and PetroFund Namibia head of communications and stakeholder engagement, Shoki Kandjimi.
The Bank of Namibia's director of strategic communications and international relations, Kazembire Zemburuka, also addressed delegates on new media and disseminating the national narrative.
Cluster sessions on Wednesday afternoon covered topics including 'Media expectations from communicators' presented by The Namibian news editor Ester Mbathera, and 'PR and public trust,' presented by communications academic Wonder Guchu. Additional contributions came from Capricorn Group corporate affairs manager Festus Nakatana and Green Hydrogen Namibia's manager of external affairs and communications, Jona Musheko.
The conference is co-hosted by the Namibia Press Agency (Nampa) and the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology and runs until Friday under the theme, 'Communication Reconsidered: A driving force for constant progress.'