James Karim Fortune: Commissioner, Eastern Region
James Karim Fortune is Public Information Officer (PIO), Right to Access Information Commission-Eastern Region, Sierra Leone. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the prestigious Fourah Bay College-USL, Freetown. He joined the Commission in 2019, first as a volunteer and on January 3, 2022, he became permanent staff.
Before this time, James had amassed well over 10 years of working experience with a few other organizations and institutions. In 2018, James served as Public Relations Coordinator at Dignity Now, Kenema. Through his inspiring leadership and commitment, the public relations department took a few steps upward and achieved many goals. In 2017, he worked as a Language analyst at Competency Development Services (CDS), Freetown. While at CDS, he directed the language and communications department. He carried out major duties such as translating documents into both English and French, drafting an MOU to the Guinean Embassy for negotiation of terms and policies for hosting Guinean students, and structuring and updating the course curriculum for the language studies program to fit modern learning standards. He lectured English and French languages to both foreign and local students in Freetown. He conducted interviews for new staff and organized all work-related activities like workshops. In the years spanning from 2010-2013, James offered teaching services in two different schools and was recognized as the best performing staff throughout his tenure in both institutions. In 2012, he worked as an interpreter for a foreign agricultural project from Cote D’Ivoire, in Dama, Eastern Sierra Leone.
James has professional experience in fostering positive relationships between media, and coordinating partnerships at all levels including governmental and non-governmental organizations, and community-based groups. He has strong communication skills in English, French, and a Few Sierra Leonean languages, and confident presentation abilities to deliver promotional campaigns, media addresses, and reports to executive management. He has a profound understanding of the importance of good publicity, reputation management, and timely response to Public Relations inquiries in the development and success of an organization. He has expert writing abilities with thorough attention to detail, proper formatting and citation, and concise delivery of interesting facts. James is committed to providing an organization with positive interactions with the media and the public to maintain its reputation, strengthen consumer loyalty, and establish credibility.
He has high analytical, design, and problem-solving skills with experience in effectively planning and coordinating events, activities, and programs and accomplishing tasks unsupervised. He has experience in generating lessons learned and best practices from project implementation and dissemination through qualitative reporting.
He is also experienced in the preparation of strategic communications and operational plans to achieve program objectives.
His educational background is French and Linguistics and has excellent computing and desktop publishing skills.