Communications Officer in Benin

Meet Yézaël Adoukonou, the Communications and Advocacy Officer in the Resident Coordinator’s Office (RCO) in Benin. He is proud of his efforts to position the Sustainable Development Goals at the local and national level, engaging several thousand youth and women as part of the Decade of Action. For example, during the UN75 dialogues, the United Nations in Benin was able to engage more than 15,000 people from various social strata to speak out on their aspirations for a better future by 2045.

In the fight against COVID-19, Yézaël, with the support from the UN country team communications officers, led the coordination on COVID-related public messaging. These communications messages and videos were broadcast every day, for more over a month, on the national channel ORTB, which has a daily audience of tens of thousands of viewers, and on the social networks of the various agencies, funds and programs operating in Benin. 

Yézaël also supported the work of the UN country team in Benin to advance legal identity for children through communications actions and media coverage. The UN in Benin set up a system for birth registrations in Benin via a toll-free number. As a result, more than 50,000 births were registered between 2019-2021, representing approximately one in eight births in a year nationally. Yézaël worked on highlighting the testimonies of beneficiaries in the most remote and difficult to access areas.