AIJC visits GK village

by Ramon R. Tuazon

In preparation for the AIJC-Gawad Kalinga (GK) Community Communication Project, the AIJC visited last 02 August 2007 two GK villages, ie Bagong Silang in Kalookan City and BASECO Compound in Tondo. After the visit and in consultation with GK officials, the AIJC decided to pilot the community communication project in BASECO.

The UNACOM-funded project aims to chronicle, through a video documentary produced by community members themselves, the changes that have happened in the selected GK village. The changes are not limited to the physical improvements in both individuals and neighborhoods (ie from blight to bright) but more important, include values, attitudes and mindsets of the villagers (ie from a feeling of despair to a sense of empowerment and optimism for the future) and even of the sponsors and donors.

BASECO community leaders who participated in the consultation agreed that systematic and full documentation is one of the “missing elements” of GK sites or villages and, therefore, the proposed project will fill in this perceived gap.

Taking off from the Payatas Pilot Project of the AIJC on e-Knowledge Public Domain wherein out-of-school youth participated in digital literacy training and trained to produce digital multimedia materials on various health concerns, it was agreed that the youth sector of GK BASECO shall be tapped to produce the envisioned video documentary.

Prior to actual production work, the AIJC shall conduct a training workshop among the youth who shall be involved in the documentary project. The training course shall include sessions on conceptualization and planning, scriptwriting and visualization, video shooting, digital editing, sound mixing, and directing, among others. Other community members will also be involved as advisers, interviewees, etc. With this approach, the community can eventually be self-reliant in documenting community events and activities.

The video production will have many uses, including information, documentation, social marketing and resource mobilization. It can be shown during various presentations to audiences within and outside the Philippines.

The video documentary can also be shared with other GK villages nationwide to encourage other communities to come up with their own documentation. It can be uploaded in the GK website and shared globally through the YouTube.

AIJC completes project on Shari’a courts

by Ann Lourdes C. Lopez

What do we know about Shari’a courts?

These courts for Muslim Filipinos were established in 1985 to enforce the provisions of the Code of Muslim Personal Laws of the Philippines (CMPL), promulgated in 1977 and also known as P.D. 1083.

To raise public awareness and understanding of CMPL and to increase demand for the use of the court system created under the Code, AIJC implemented the project, “Development of a Comprehensive Information-Education-Communication Plan for the Shari’a Court System.”

The project was funded with a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development and The Asia Foundation, under TAF’s Legal Accountability and Dispute Resolution (LADR) Program.

Under the project, AIJC prepared a Comprehensive Information-Education-Communication Plan for the Shari’a Court System, produced primers on the Code and the Shari’a courts, printed posters in three Muslim group languages (ie Maranao, Maguindanon, Tausug), and wrote media articles on the implementation of CMPL.

Court of Appeals Justice Hakim S. Abdulwahid, faculty member of the Department of Shari’a and Islamic Jurisprudence of the Philippine Judicial Academy, said,” This is a good project that complements what we are doing at PHILJA.”

Completed in August 2007, the project was headed by AIJC Officer in Charge Ramon R. Tuazon, project team leader. Associate Director Ann Lourdes C. Lopez was project manager. Other project team members were: Conchita G. Bigornia, media specialist; Samira Gutoc-Tomawis, senior writer-researcher; Loregene M. Macapugay, project assistant; and Dante M. Pangan, finance officer.

Rural Power Project completed

by Nimfa Doroteo-Camua

The AIJC Research and Development and Consultancy unit has completed the first phase of the communication component of the Rural Power Project, a World Bank-Global Environment Facility-Department of Energy program. A one-year project, the Strategic Communications and Investment Promotion Plans for the RPP also involved website development that links all stakeholders as well as students of renewable energy.

The RPP Communication and Investment Promotion Plan provides the framework or overall direction that addresses the energy sector’s concerns such as sustainability (considering the lack of sense of ownership, dole-out and highly subsidized system that distorts the market for solar PV and hampers the participation of the private sector through their investment in rural electrification), huge cost to government, and minimal community benefits.

Specifically, the Plan identified the following: (1) goals and objectives of the Plan; (2) intended audiences or stakeholders; (3) core and key messages; (4) resources to be mobilized; (5) responsibility centers; (6) time frames for the completion of activities; (7) monitoring and evaluation strategies and indicators; and (8) budgetary requirements. The Plan also established a system for allocating, prioritizing and ensuring equitable and efficient use of limited communication resources to achieve communication and promotion goals. These resources include manpower, funds, equipment and facilities, among others.

The Plan goes beyond objectives and strategies as it directs a definite course of action through specific messages for each identified audience that will bring about change in mindset, behavior and level of participation. Hence, the Plan involves an overall action that harmonizes various initiatives of the different sectors involved.

Aside from the Plan, AIJC has provided RPP with communication and media support services such as conceptualization and production of brochures, posters and video documentary, news and feature releases in major newspapers, broadcast features in major television networks' talk shows, events organization such as the gathering of RPP partners from government, business, and non-government sectors, and conceptualization and production of corporate giveaways. On the other hand, AIJC closely worked with RPP in the development and operation of its website. Training of RPP staff to handle the website as well as suppliers’ and other stakeholders’ links to various components of RPP were also developed and turned over to the RPP Project Management Office.

AIJC helps draft Community eCenter Roadmap

by Madeline B. Quiamco

AIJC Associate Dean Madeline B. Quiamco and ICT for Development Associate Director Flordeliza Azarcon joined 35 other stakeholders in a workshop to draft the Philippine Community eCenter Roadmap for 2010 held 29-31 August at the Boracay Regency Beach Resort. The 3-day workshop was convened by the Center for Information and Communications Technology (CICT) with funding from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada.

Using the outputs of the round of Regional Consultation Workshops called by CICT earlier in the cities of Manila, Baguio, Cebu, Tacloban, Iloilo, Zamboanga, and Cagayan de Oro, the participants drafted the roadmap for implementation of the Philippine Community eCenter Program, that is, its vision, mission, goals and objectives, and strategies.

Other inputs to the workshop were provided by resource persons from the ICT and academic sectors. CICT Commissioner and Officer-in-Charge Angelo Timoteo de Rivera and Ms. Maria Teresa Camba, Director, CICT-NCC Field Operations Office, provided essential information on the Philippine CeC Program and CICT’s hopes for it. Mr. Shadrach Basheerhamad, IDRC Senior Program Officer, shared innovative ideas on building and implementing a roadmap based on his experiences in India and Sri Lanka. Mr. Tommy Lopez, President, University of Makati, gave an enjoyable presentation on social marketing. Commissioner Monchito B. Ibrahim, CICT Cyberservices Consultant and Acting Commissioner, described the present and future of ICT-based services, the country’s major sunrise industry Dr. Elizabeth Manugue of the Development Academy of the Philippines was the workshop facilitator.

AIJC welcomes new Trustees

by Nimfa Doroteo-Camua

Four new Trustees have been elected to the AIJC Board during its special board meeting on August 22, 2007. They are Next Mobile, Inc. CEO and The Velarde Group, Inc. president Mel V. Velarde, Next mobile, Inc. president Lamberto Ramos, PWU Alumni Affairs, Marketing and Recruitment director Olivia Celeste Montecillo-Villafuerte, and Ateneo Psychology Department lecturer Maria Luisa Guinto-Adviento.

The new Trustees bring with them their extensive expertise in the fields of communication and management.

Velarde was co-founder of SkyCable, the largest cable provider in the country. On the other hand, Ramos teaches Strategic Marketing at the Ateneo after a long stint with Anheuser-Busch International in Guam and Micronesia.

Villafuerte has been engaged in marketing and promotions and has worked with ABS-CBN and other media networks. Adviento’s fields of specialization include training and development, multiple intelligences, curriculum reform and online learning.

Radio program of former AIJC president up at Golden Dove Awards

by Nimfa Doroteo-Camua

Kalikasan, Kaunlaran!, a radio program directed and hosted by former AIJC president Dr. Corazon Claudio, has been nominated this year to the much-coveted KBP Golden Dove Awards. The program is co-produced by EARTH Institute Asia, Inc. and DZRH. It is aired on Wednesdays at 6:30-7:30 pm with the support and cooperation of various organizations, including the AIJC.

Kalikasan, Kaunlaran! discusses environment and sustainable development challenges, initiatives and needed measures in conversational Filipino mixed with English, with outstanding leaders and experts from various fields as guests. The program delivers informative and educational materials to millions of Filipinos worldwide and can be accessed through the Internet.

“We reach even remote islands in the Philippines that do not have electricity but have transistor radios. We started our broadcast on Oct. 4, 2006 and we topped the ratings for our time slot in the first quarter of 2007. We work hard to get advertisements and grants to cover the cost of air time and production. The positive feedback from our listeners and their active participation in our program inspire me to continue our advocacy on air,” Dr. Claudio said.

Currently a member of the AIJC Board of Trustees, Dr. Claudio advocates sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific Region. Through her partnership with other organizations, she has “initiated the establishment of sustainable communities for indigenous peoples in the Philippines and is now influencing the way millions of Filipinos and others in the region think about development,” the Stanford Engineering e-newsletter cited in its Alumni Profile (http://soe.stanford.edu/alumniprofiles.html).

An engineer, economist and environmentalist, Dr. Claudio heads the EARTH Institute Asia, Inc., an acronym for the priority areas it works on, namely, environment, energy and education, agriculture and alternative lifestyle, risk and recycling, technology, and health.

EARTH and Dr. Claudio have been working with organizations, such as, Kaisa Para sa Kaunlaran, Inc., the Management Association of the Philippines, the TOWNS Foundation, and the Gawad Kalinga Community Development Foundation in implementing the Kalinga Para sa Aeta project in Bamban, Tarlac. The project builds, with and for the Aetas, houses that have rain collection systems, waterless eco-sanitation toilets, and other basic facilities.

“We have also started helping the Aetas develop ecologically sound livelihood projects, from vegetable gardens in their backyards to the establishment of bamboo and other productive farms. We hope to make our Aeta village a showcase of sustainable lifestyle,” Dr. Claudio said.

AIJC conducts training on content development for emergency knowledgebase

by Madeline B. Quiamco

The Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication recently conducted a UNESCO-funded training-workshop for 31 provincial, municipal, and city health unit heads, local government unit representatives of the six provinces of Region 8, and staff members of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Committee designated as health emergency managers (HEMs).

The Training-Workshop on Content Development for a Disaster and Health Emergency Knowledgebase was conducted 06-10 August 2007 at the Center for Health Development in Palo, Leyte to develop content for a disaster and health emergency knowledgebase for Region 8.

Region 8 or the Eastern Visayas region is one of the most disaster-prone areas in the Philippines. Strong typhoons, massive landslides, and flash floods that have occurred in Eastern Visayas are some of the worst in the country’s history in terms of loss of life and property. The Philippine Department of Health-Region 8 (DOH-8) is spearheading efforts at health emergency management to reduce loss of life and safeguard people’s health during disasters. It is collaborating with the local government units and other service agencies such as the Departments of Social Welfare, Public Highways, and Education, and the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council to develop a corps of HEMs who coordinate activities related to health emergency preparedness, response, rehabilitation, and mitigation in their respective sectors.

Access to knowledge and just-in-time information is critical to the effectiveness of HEMs. To improve their access to knowledge and information and make them more effective, DOH- 8 envisions a knowledgebase on disaster and health emergency that HEMs themselves will develop and access through a website. The five-day training-workshop was a capacity-building activity that aimed to enable participants to

conduct a knowledge audit on disaster management;
initiate a taxonomy of disaster management knowledge and information;
apply some knowledge elicitation techniques and tools for capturing tacit knowledge and document disaster responses proven effective, and
prepare materials on disaster and health emergency management for the web and participate in the development of a knowledgebase framework.

The participants’ efforts yielded the following outputs:

knowledge audit results that served as basis for identifying available knowledge and needed knowledge;
knowledgebase framework based on the taxonomy of knowledge areas developed, which diagrams the organization of the contents of the knowledgebase to be built; and
initial knowledge items written by the participants that can serve as initial content of the knowledgebase.

DOH-8 will call on its partner organizations to facilitate subsequent work on the knowledgebase such as content writing . Its IT staff will develop the website for the knowledgebase after their own training in September. A training course on Risk Communication is also being planned to improve HEMs’ skills in communicating about health emergency with the communities they serve and the general public.

AIJC, UNESCO publish ICT Reader

by Ann Lourdes C. Lopez

A Reader on Information and Communication Technology Planning for Development is now off the press.

The book is published by the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication and UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines with support from Intel and Microsoft. Originally published in 1998, the new edition is edited by Dr. Florangel Rosario-Braid, Ramon R. Tuazon and Nora O. Gamolo.

Among the authors featured are William T. Torres, Virgilio Peña, Angelo Timoteo Diaz de Rivera, Chief Justice Artemio V. Panganiban, Alvin B. Marcelo, Sheila S. Coronel, and Leo Magno.

Chapters include: ICT planning for development, socio-cultural and ethical aspects of ICT, political and legal aspects of ICT, ICT in education, e-governance, and ICT in journalism.

The book features case studies on how ICT is being used by national agencies like the National Statistical Office and Land Transportation Office, local government units like the City of Antipolo, health programs like Buddyworks of the Philippine General Health, and innovative education projects like Text2Teach.

In his Foreword, UNESCO Assistant Director General for Communication and Information Abdul Waheed Khan noted, “What makes this (book) special is that it focuses on the application of ICT in various human development endeavors – education, health, livelihood, environment, and governance.”

Copies can be bought at the AIJC office at Rm. 802, Annapolis Wilshire Plaza, 11 Annapolis St., Greenhills, San Juan, tel. 724-4564, 727-6799, 727-9067.