As part of its public service initiative, the UP Open University Faculty of Information and Communication Studies (UPOU-FICS), in partnership with the Department of Agriculture Special Area for Agricultural Development (DA-SAAD), conducted a hybrid workshop in Baguio City on 24-28 October 2022.
With the theme Revisit and Magnify: Communication for Development (C4D), this workshop aims to capacitate all DA communication officers with the knowledge and skills related to C4D. More importantly, the resource speakers focused on imbibing C4D appreciation among the participants.
Development Communication experts Dr. Alexander G. Flor, Professor Emeritus and Program Chair of the UPOU Doctor of Communication Program, and Dr. Benjamina Paula G. Flor, Program Chair of the UPOU Master of Development Communication Program, served as the resource speakers of the workshop and delivered their talks online. Dr. Emely M. Amoloza, Program Development Associate for Public Service, served as the workshop facilitator and on-site resource person. A total of 39 DA-SAAD communication officers coming from all the regions nationwide participated in this workshop.
Dr. Alexander Flor started off by sharing stories on how the discipline of development communication started. He then shared the theories and practices in development communication. He also shared that development is a communication process and related it to the participants’ professional lives as Information Officers.
To get a first-hand experience and be able to identify the problems associated with underdevelopment, the participants were asked to observe the local community of Baguio City. With this activity, the participants get to appreciate their roles as catalysts of change, realizing that there are many ways in which they can help to achieve development.
During the report presentations, Dr. Benjie Flor commended that creating a problematique map can help them find the root cause of the problem and be able to draw solutions from it. “We cannot come up with a blanket solution if you are not able to find the main cause of the identified problems”, she added.
On the last day of the workshop, the DA-SAAD team had the chance to refresh their core values, which are: (1) contribute to poverty alleviation, (2) empower farmers and fishers, and (3) advocate for sustainable development. Dr. Benjie Flor shared that the word “saad” in Bisaya means “promise”. She stated that perhaps the role of DA-SAAD is to keep its promise, which is to improve people’s lives by doing their intention of minimizing, reducing, or eradicating poverty. Further, she commented that as information officers, they should go beyond writing. “It’s not about the statistics. It is the story you wanted to tell. You write about the experience, and that experience will shape the action”, she emphasized.
During the open forum, the participants shared their insights, realizations, and reflections about C4D. Being able to appreciate the role of communication for development, the participants were challenged to think about how to translate the principles and theories they learned from this training and operationalize them through their work as information officers.
Written by Denielle M. Amoloza, FICS
Edited by Myra C. Almodiel and Anna Cañas-Llamas
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