Mohamed Daffae. Public Relations Officer Candidature Package-6th NGA 2021

MOHAMED DAFFAE

CANDIDATURE SLEMSA P.R.O 2020/21

MOTIVATION LETTER Dear SLEMSA,

Today, the world is witnessing a critical period that will mark a modern history. The COVID Pandemic has led to a dramatic loss of human lives worldwide and presents an unprecedented challenge to public health, medical education, human rights, and free speech.

In times like these, we have to ensure that the joint voices of medical student get out louder and clearer, more than ever. As the only studentrun organization representing over 300 medical students, we have to ensure

that

we

have

a

say

in

all

matters

that

affect

us

as

medical

students. We need to adapt to these events not only because they fall under our fields of advocacy, but will also increase our capacities to cover these global health events.

With this, it gives me great honor to present my candidature for the position of Public Relations Officer 2020/21. I am Mohamed Daffae, a 3rd

year

medical

student

and

you

are

about

to

live

glimpses

of

my

journey in SLEMSA.

Back in 2016, I was a premedical student who has just gotten admission into the medical school with a burning desire of going through medical school and become a doctor, then I discovered SLEMSA. I remembered attending my first meeting held by the association at the multipurpose hall,

Kossoh

IFMSA.

I

massively

Town.

was to

I

was

inspired

society

by

introduced students

through

to

just

advocacy

SLEMSA like and

me

and who

capacity

its are

parent

body

contributing

building.

I

knew

then this was something I was up for.

Over the past five years, my interest in the association has only gotten deeper

and

my

participation

still

remains

unparallel.I

have

served

in

numerous capacities and represented the association in diverse ways.

The more I served it, the more I fall in love with what I do.

During my term as the Local Officer for Medical Education, I worked closely with the National Officer and Asst. to conduct the first surgical skill training. I experienced what it means to volunteer, organize an event and create an impact in a community. I experienced working on a national level with the Executive Board, Team of Officials and all SLEMSians in recognizing and commemorating various health campaigns and at the same time engaging with IFMSA international processes.

I’ve got the chance to work as a Returning Officer for the Online African Regional Meeting. This allowed me to attend an external event such as the ARM, and gave me the opportunity to watch IFMSA from within. In my capacity as a returning officer, I worked closely with the regional team to organize the first Online African Regional Meeting. With my experience in serving as a member of the SLEMSA Team of Officials, I feel prepared to take on this challenge as the next Public Relation Officer.

I intend to keep communication flowing as smoothly as possible, to bring out the best in terms of publications, make things as interactive as possible and strengthen SLEMSA’s image, and most importantly build the capacity of the field to guarantee the sustainability of this position in the coming years. I implore you to let you exert my talent and passion within the association and be part of the change. We are not to be oblivious of the fact that the representation of our dearly loved association in the public eye on the capacity of a relations officer is one of the most paramount caterpillars to boost our thematic areas and my lived proactiveness makes me very best fit to be counted upon.

Yours Sincerely, Mohamed Daffae +23279733862 mdaffae@gnail.com

Plan of Action 1. Leadership & Teamwork o Executive Board The Executive Board is the body responsible for the work of SLEMSA between the General Assembly, within the mandate, guidelines and decisions provided by the General Assembly. And through my experience as a Local Officer, IT Member, and other leadership positions in other organizations, I have acquired considerable leadership experience to take on the following actions to the betterment of our Association: ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪

Actively participates in decision making discussions and provide input and suggestion when needed; Consult SLEMSA Alumni, and previous PROs as experienced and knowledgeable advisory body; Conduct and actively participate in Online meetings with the Executive Board; Support the EB in the coordination of technical aspect of the plenaries, Including Nemovote; Provide guidance and support to Team of Official members; Establish contact with relevant partners; Take over other EB task, if needed.

This term will mark an important event in our association: SLEMSA’s 10th Anniversary: this year will mark a milestone and huge event for the association’s 10th anniversary and it will be celebrated throughout the entire term. This includes but not limited to: ▪ ▪ ▪

Brainstorming and creation of a logo that represents our Association and to be used in our publications; Brainstorming for ways of promoting this milestone, and using it to our advantage.

Recognize Alumni who’ve this possible

o Team of Officials As a member of the SLEMSA Team of Officials, it is my duty to ensure that the PR are delivered in different standing committees and other EB related areas, such as the Treasurer, guaranteeing SLEMSA’s visibility and promotion. As such, I have defined some objectives to be accomplished this term: ▪ ▪

Maintain an open channel of communications with the team of officials; Ensure the delivery of PR materials for SLEMSA activities;

▪

Participates in General House Meeting, Annual General Assembly and Regional/General Meetings if possible and/or relevant.

In order to better coordinate the work deployed by the office of the Public Relations, I will be requesting the need of the following assistance to be part of the Team of officials: ▪ ▪ ▪

1 Publication Assistant 1 Social Media Assistant 1 Website and technology Assistant

2. Publications A large part of public relations is creating a variety of documents that deliver our stories to our members but also the media and other partners. In order to reach higher impact, we need to consider several means of publications and their specificities.

o Newsletter The SLEMSA News pill is a simple but original way of promoting our activities, but needs to have more outreach. Some goals and objectives defined are: ▪ ▪

I will assess the current composition of the newsletter and all factors that go in its release; Continue working on distribution formats (eg. Issuu), in order to ensure larger outreach and greater impact;

o Branding & Merchandising Promotional materials and merchandise are valuable brand tool and a great way to promote SLEMSA both nationally and beyond.

Regarding Merchandising, I will take into account the best ways to produce these materials and in the most sustainable way, which will be done by assessing the association needs, and the methods of sale – the latter will be discussed with the Treasurer ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪

Work with the Treasurer and the secretary general to produce a membership ID card; Work with the Treasurer to produce the SLEMSA Handbook for members; Produce the team of officials with Business Cards; I will support Organizing Committees with the merchandise in NGAs, WCC, MedFest, etc.

o Other Publications ▪

Create a high quality annual report to present our activities and achievements to our members and partners

▪

Assist with the development of promotional materials, including press releases, brochures and other programs related collateral

3. Media Contacts & Sponsorship o

Role in Media

In the words of Antoine de Saint-Expuréy: “A goal without a plan is just a wish.”

Organizations with a strong, long-term media presence, will have a solid plan to back it up. Working out who you are, what you stand for, and what messages you want to portray is challenging – but it’s also fun. In this section in building media relations strategy, some defined goals are: ▪ ▪

▪ ▪ ▪ ▪

Leverage Existing media relationships and cultivate new contacts so that SLEMSA can convey its message.

Traditional media (Such as AYV MEDIA EMPIRE, MEDIA ONE CENTER, SLBC, FTN RADIO DEMOCRACY, and many others) is still the most credible news source, and is essential for conveying brand messaging as it is instantly recognizable; Partner with media stations in celebrating health campaigns and hosting health talks; Identify promotional activities that are both strategic and creative; Track media coverage and address inquiries from the media; Serves as the association’s spokesperson;

o Sponsorship The search for a potential sponsor is not one man’s job. As an EB Member it is my responsibility to contribute to the growth of the association. Accordingly, the suggested objectives for sponsorship are: ▪ Define a strategy together with the Treasurer and Vice President on the maters of sponsorship; ▪ Seek opportunities for partnerships, sponsorships and advertising; ▪ Collect and share the sponsorship materials with members; ▪ Develop a Sponsorship prospectus.

4. Social Media: Regarding the social media pages – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, have been growing fast. Facebook has more than 4.5K likes, Instagram accounts for around 600 followers and Twitter has around 800 followers. These numbers are impressive but we need to keep working on increasing the reach and impact of our post, so that we can ensure the information does reach our target groups. That is why I will work on the following:

▪ ▪ ▪

▪ ▪

▪ ▪

Facebook: Work on the promotion of the facebook page and ensure the content is reader friendly, short and concise Instagram: Diversify the content between post and short videos.

YouTube: Besides post and infographics, video is on the rise, and youtube is the 2nd biggest search engine after google. And as such the need for a youtube account cannot be any timelier.

Create a social media calendar to organize post and avoid spamming.

Develop and Implement a strategic social media communications plan to advance SLEMSA’s brand identity; broaden awareness of its programs and priorities and increase visibility of its programs across key audiences Recommend new social media tools, sites, and applications as part of the social media mix Look into implementing “live sessions” in SLEMSA’s official event, for instant interaction between members and our target audience.

MOHAMED DAFFAE +232-79-733862 MDAFFAE@GMAIL.COM 18 JOHN STREET, FREETOWN

EDUCATION

EXPERIENCE

COLLEGE OF MEDICINE AND ALLIED HEALTH SCIENCES, USL 2016-2024 MBCHB

WASSCE

ACHIEVEMENTS

/MDAFFAE

SLEMSA NEWSPILL

2020

SCOME SL

2018 - 2019

SLEMSA 3RD WCC

MARCH 2019

-LOCAL OFFICER

-DIRECTOR OF PLANNING

BEST WASSCE STUDENT, 2015 BEST DEBATER, SCOME DEBATE 19 UNFPA CHAIRPERSON, IIMUN 19 ONLINE AMET CERTIFICATE ONLINE SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY

WORDPRESS ADOBE PHOTOSHOP MICROSOFT OFFICE ZOOM

-PLENARY RETURNING OFFICER

DEC 2020

-MEMBER, EDITORIAL BOARD

PRINCE OF WALES SCHOOL KINGTOM 2011-2015

SOFTWARE

ONLINE ARM 2020

SCOME SESSION, NGA

-SESSION TEAM MEMBER

SKILLS DEBATING PUBLIC SPEAKING PRESENTATION GRAPHICS DESIGN PHOTOGRAPHY VIDEO

/INCREDIBLE_DAF

@MDAFFAE

DEC 2018