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The Zimbabwe Online Content Creators (ZOCC), in collaboration with the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ), is set to hold a historic two-day workshop in Kadoma that would allow both practitioners plying the vast digital space and the regulator to compare notes on how they could streamline their fledgling working relationship for the betterment of the sector.
The workshop, the first of such engagement between the authority and media practitioners coalescing under the ZOCC umbrella, is set for 15 and 16 September 2022.
More than 60 professional online content creators and representatives of their various artistic works have been selected for the crucial engagement which seeks to create a close ecological relationship between them and the government agency charged with policing the digital space.
Headlining the workshop will be a brief interface between the content creators and ICT Postal and Courier Services Minister Honourable Jenfan Muswere who is billed to officially open the event.
The minister is on record stating that the government is driving towards an inclusive digital economy driven by Information Communication Technology.
During the workshop, content creators will outline to the attention of the regulator, the myriad challenges they face during their day-to-day operations with parties expected to agree on the best ways to leverage the country’s telecoms infrastructure to increase reach and national inclusivity.
Also among its objectives, the workshop will find the best ways in which practitioners could effectively produce valuable content that will trickle to the vast community information centres around the country.
Online Content Creators will also be accorded the opportunity and responsibility to dedicate focus on specific sectors around their target communities and marginalised peripheries.
The key issue of local content hosting using already existing servers by local telcos and its pros and cons will also be top of the agenda.
The workshop is also set to look into the operating environment for online players amid the Cyber Security Bill, its impact, and how best government and players could co-exist.
ZOCC chairperson, Mr. Toneo Rutsito is upbeat about the workshop which he says shall not be allowed to pass as just another chat session, but as a strategic engagement initiative to jumpstart the country’s online content creation sector.
“I’m so excited about the upcoming event. We have the support of Potraz Director General Dr. Gift Kalisto Machengete, who has content creation at heart.
“In his Geneva speech, he pledged to see how best he could assist us to professionalise, capacitate and empower all the young content creators. To me, this is fundamental, this will indeed not be allowed to pass as your usual talk away workshop,” said Toneo.
The ZOCC chairperson added that the media-based conglomerate was excited to have a Potraz top decision maker who is passionate about content creation and seeing youths explore their talents for professional fulfillment, as seen by various other initiatives he has been spearheading to capacitate young digital players through innovation drives.
Asked about the long-term vision, Toneo is optimistic about the fledging relationship between the regulator and the telcos, that it will lead to long-term benefits and give impetus to his ambitious vision towards the creation of the first-ever, ZOCC hub, a physical structure that will cater for all online players who cannot afford offices to operate in while also helping media based students to kick-start their industrial attachment in an already financially difficult environment, slowing down the industry.
Zimbabwe Online Content Creators is comprised of professional bloggers, bloggers, creative animators, and social media influencers who abide by a digital media code of ethics.