Communications scholar Alfred Opubor dies

The Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) Working Group on Communication for Education and Development regrets to announce the passing away of Professor Alfred Opubor. This sad event occurred in the late hours of the night of 2 December 2011, following a brief admission at the university teaching hospital in Cotonou, Benin

Professor Alfred Opubor was one of the first generation of specialists in the field of communication as a behavioural science. He graduated from Michigan State University, in the United States, with a PhD degree in 1969.

His expertise was in communication theories and message systems and their applications in development. A former university professor and head of department of mass communication, Professor Opubor was also a researcher, government policy adviser and senior communication specialist in the United Nations system. He has been an international consultant in strategic communication and media development.

For nearly a decade (1990-1998), he served as Senior Technical Adviser in Information, Education and Communication for Reproductive Health with the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, first in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, subsequently moving to the Country Support Team, CST, in Harare, Zimbabwe, covering more than 20 countries in East, Central and West Africa.

His expertise in strategic communication has been requested by several national, regional and international organisations, especially within the United Nations system.

· In 1999, UNFPA and UNAIDS assigned him to lead the team of consultants that prepared a report on HIV/AIDS advocacy based on field research in six African countries.
· With the World Health Organisation Africa Regional Office (Harare, 1999), he prepared projects on the future of health communication in Africa.
· In 2000, he led a consultation organised by FAO and ECOWAS in defining procedures, manuals and tools for the establishment of national communication policies in West Africa.
· In 1999 he was a communication consultant to the World Bank for the urban water reform in Ghana, as well as the preparation of a development communication strategy for the Government of Ghana.
· In 2007 he was an invited consultant/ participant at the 10th United Nations Inter-Agency Round Table on Communication for Development in Addis Ababa, which aimed at developing a UN system-wide common approach to Communication for Development in the context of achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

As Senior Consultant to the Chairman of the African Union Commission, he proposed the conceptual framework and operational procedures for the establishment of a pan-African radio and television network in 2005-2006.

Between 2003 and 2007, Professor Opubor served as the Coordinator of the ADEA Working Group on Communication for Education and Development (WG COMED) where he passed on his passion for communication to all those who worked with him. His contribution to ADEA was exceptional, and in particular to the setting up and consolidation of the Working Group COMED and the Africa Education Journalism Award.

Between 2008 and 2009 he designed the institutional communication strategy for the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, entitled ‘From a Community of States to a Community of People’.

In 2009 he undertook missions on behalf of UNESCO headquarters, Paris, to prepare analytical studies on the integration of communication for development in the CCA/UNDAF of Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania, within the context of the UN system’s ‘Delivering As One’ reforms. He also provided capacity development for members of the UN Communication Group in these countries. He was appointed a member of the Experts’ Group on Media Data and Indicators of the UNESCO Institute of Statistics, Montreal, undertaking missions in 2009 to India (March), Paris, (May) and Costa Rica( November) .

Since 2003 until his death on 2 December 2011, he was secretary-general of the WANAD Centre in Cotonou. He was also vice-chairman of the board of directors of the Panos Institute (West Africa), and member of the Africa Board of Inter-Press Service, IPS, the Rome-based international news agency with regional headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Professor Opubor was 75 years old. He is survived by his spouse, Antoinette, and children and grand-children. May his soul rest in peace.

A condolence book is opened at the WANAD Centre in Cotonou and visitors are invited to come and sign it as from Monday 5 December, 2011.

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