UCAP Congress to be Held in Ghana from 10th – 17th August, 2025

The Union Catholique Africaine de la Presse (UCAP), also known as the African Catholic Union of the Press, in collaboration with the Catholic Association of Media Practitioners-Ghana (CAMP-G), is set to host its prestigious Triennial Congress from 10th to 17th August, 2025, at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Legon, Accra, Ghana.

This landmark event, the most significant gathering of Catholic journalists in Africa, will bring together media professionals, researchers, and experts in digital technology from across the continent and beyond. The theme for the Congress is: Balancing Technological Progress and the Preservation of Human Values in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.

Congress Highlights

The UCAP Congress 2025 will feature discussions and deliberations on critical issues arising from or related to integral human development, particularly within the framework of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Some of the key sub-themes to be addressed include:

1. Corporate Social Responsibility in Managing the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Human Values
2. Deploying AI in Eco-friendly Business Start-ups in Africa: Opportunities and Challenges
3. Technology and the Reprogramming of Social Reality
4. Distortion of Reality in Social and Digital Media
5. Ecological Education and Action Against Unsustainable Exploitation of Natural Resources
6. Media and the Promotion of the Recommendations of the Synod on Synodality in Africa

Participants will include media professionals from both ecclesiastical and lay organisations, media researchers and academics, representatives from the Vatican, government agencies, NGOs, civil society, and the digital technology sector.

Objectives of the Congress

1. The primary goal of this Congress is to strengthen the capacities of media professionals and educate the public on the necessity of preserving human values amid rapid technological progress. Specific objectives include:
2. Training 100 media practitioners in Artificial Intelligence and emerging technologies, with a focus on balancing innovation and human values.
3. Promoting ethics and bioethics in technical research and technological innovations through media.
4. Advocating for human values such as respect for life, human dignity, charity, solidarity, and human rights.
5. Assessing the impact of technological progress to better understand the challenges, risks, and opportunities presented by AI.

Expected Outcomes

1. Development of action plans and recommendations for governments, corporations, and civil society to mitigate the impact of AI and other technological advances on human development.
2. Increased media discourse on AIs effects on human values and the necessity of interventions.
3. Establishment of ecological education and media literacy projects for national UCAP branches to implement resolutions from the Congress.

About the Organising Committee

Mr. Victoria Lugey, immediate past President of CAMP-G and also immediate past Vice President of UCAP as well as Sir Ben Batabe Assorow, the Managing Editor of the Ghana Catholic Standard are co-chairpersons of the Organising Committee. Other key members are Mr Charles Ayetan, President of UCAP; Mr. Stephen Patrick Asante, the current President of CAMP-G; Professor Ben Nnamdi Emenyeonu, a Communication Lecturer and also a member of the Council of Elders of UCAP; Mr Franklin Anane-Gyimah, Financial Secretary of UCAP; Mr Christian Kpesese, Organising Secretary of CAMP-G; Dr Anthony Bonnah-Koomson, a Communication lecturer; Rev. Fr. Rex Vegbey, an audio-visual expert; Fr Dieu Donné Davor, Executive Secretary of the Department of Social Communications of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference and Mr Peter Martey Agbeko, a member of the Governing Council of the Institute of Public Relations (IPR) in Ghana and Chairman of its International Relations Committee.

Sir Ben Assorow, a distinguished media expert, has previously served as President of UNDA-Africa (now SIGNIS-Africa), a member of the World Board of SIGNIS, and Director of Communications for the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM). He also held the position of Executive Secretary of the Department of Social Communications of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference.