The Africa Speaks Roundtable Consultation (ASROCO) is an initiative by Africa Speaks to seek actionable solutions to systemic industry challenges facing the Christian publishing industry in Africa. It is designed as a three-phased cycle that includes:
This is in line with the AFRICA SPEAKS ACCORD signed in the first gathering in 2018 with the vision of seeing flourishing of a Christian publishing industry in Africa.
Preliminary Issue Presentation: Articulation of three Issues by three leading Christian publishers via a position paper presented virtually to members.
In-person Consultation: Leading Christian publishing practitioners will gather physically at an African City to deliberate on the issues and propose solutions.
Working Committees: Three working committees implement the proposals agreed at the gathering and will report in the next ASROCO.
Each consultation will have a maximum of three pressing issues to be tabled for discussion. Thereafter, we will launch a working committee to oversee the implementation of the proposed solutions. The working committees will become the connection points for publishers based on the problems they identify and attempt to solve.
ASROCO Nairobi, 2024 was the second gathering and was held in Nairobi, Kenya from Tuesday 5th to Saturday 9th March 2024.
The focus of the meeting was to reflect together on the presented positional papers and propose possible answers. Because the time was limited, the working committees will develop the proposed thoughts and work towards practical initiatives.
For our ASROCO Nairobi 2024, the following three issues were our focus:
Christian authors in Africa are not known as much as their secular counterparts. This session simply articulated the reasons why Christian authors in Africa are not easy to find and proposed possible solutions.
Watch the session recording below:
What’s the point of producing books if they won’t reach the reader? The question of distribution is a crucial concern for the life of the book in Africa. The aim of this 2nd Issue Presentation was to understand the problems that undermine book distribution in Africa in general, and to outline possible solutions, especially for Christian books.
Watch the session recording below:
This presentation, the third of three sessions introducing and articulating priority issues in preparation for the 2nd Africa Speaks Roundtable Consultation (ASROCO), exploited ACTS’ experiences to bring out the challenges posed by issues of dishonesty, while exploring innovative strategies for recruiting and retaining staff. It also presented an overview of the experiences of other Christian institutions in the field of personnel management.
Watch the session recording below:
