About us
OAPE promotes publishing, its good practices, its actors, its products, its professions in Africa and the Caribbean.
Ulrich Talla Wamba — Executive Director
What
is the
African
Publishing Professionals Observatory?
OAPE stands for “Observatoire Africain Professionnels de l’Édition”. OAPE promotes publishing, its good practices, its actors, its products, its professions in Africa and the Caribbean. We carry out reflections, analyses, publications, surveys, studies related to our object (publishing, its products, its actors, its trades) to raise awareness of the different actors of the publishing value chain in Africa and the Caribbean. OAPE strives to make available its data on publishing and intervenes with policy makers, intergovernmental organisations and other non-governmental agents to raise awareness on issues related to the subject.
In addition to its specific actions with targeted groups, the Observatory also works on the promotion and enhancement of collective (or individual) initiatives on “publishing, its products, its actors or its professions”. The Observatory disseminates publishing and encourages Africans to take an interest in it. The Observatory promotes professional practices to make the sector healthier.
We operate as a non-profit organisation with volunteers in about twenty countries and the progressive establishment of national representations (Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Togo – for the moment).
Join our many volunteers today...
Why the establishment
of an Observatory?
The creation and implementation of OAPE was a response to a need: an awareness of the importance of the publishing sector in the development of countries, particularly in the South. Publishing is at the heart of the communication business. Whether school books, scientific books, technical books, literary books, children’s books, etc., they are very important for the education, training and culture of the population.
This challenge can only be met if the sector is managed professionally (which includes, in addition to the economic dimension, a cultural dimension of the book). The publishing professional is a cultural promoter; he or she is at the heart of the development of the sector and can make a significant contribution to the development of his or her country and continent.
In order to achieve this objective, we need to know what the main challenges, opportunities and issues are. We need to know how the industry is doing in order to better guide decision-makers (in particular). We believe that this requires working alongside the professionals on the ground to facilitate access, have reliable (updated) data and really help the field to improve.
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