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Prof. Garry Jay Montemayor explains the different components of a communication process, evaluation of the current communication efforts, and setting of communication targets to the 37 training-workshop participants in Baguio City.

With its goal to empower the Agricultural and Fishery Council (AFC) coordinators in performing their respective tasks through effective writing, the Philippine Council for Agriculture and Fisheries (PCAF) recently partnered with the University of the Philippines Los Baños- College of Development Communication (UPLB-CDC) to conduct technical development writing workshops.

The first leg of the training-workshop kicked off in Baguio City and gathered 37 Provincial AFC coordinators and Municipal AFC coordinators from the Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR) and PCAF’s technical staff on March 21-24, 2017 for the Technical Development Writing workshop.

The three-day training-workshop aimed to enhance and refresh the participants’ knowledge in writing, and review their writing style and format in preparing documents.

                       PCAF’s first Technical Development Writing workshop participants listen to the resource speakers from UPLB.

According to PCAF’s Partnership Development Division-Capacity Development Section, the training in CAR will be immediately followed by another four training-workshops in Leyte, Batangas, Davao City, and Nueva Ecija.

“We would like to awaken the participants’ appreciation in communication processes in general, of which technical writing is an integral part. Kailangang i-improve ang ating pagsusulat para tayo ay makatulong sa ating ahensya sa pamamagitan nang paggamit ng komunikasyon upang maibigay sa tao ang dapat nilang nakukuha galing sa atin, mula sa PCAF,” said Dean Ma. Theresa Velasco of UPLB-CDC.

The collaboration was the result of PCAF’s desire to build up the capacities of the AFC volunteer-partners and contribute toward institutional strengthening.

Dean Velasco, along with Prof. Garry Jay Montemayor and Prof. Kabzeel Sheba Catapang, tackled the communication needs of PCAF and its communication targets. They also focused on the writing forms and formats for various stakeholders, and prioritizing communication materials for specific stakeholder groups.

After the scheduled five training-workshops, UPLB-CDC will craft learning modules that will serve as guidelines in directing capacity-building programs for AFC coordinators at the provincial and municipal levels throughout the country.

During the workshop in Baguio, PCAF asked the participants to echo and apply what they have learned.

Aside from this, PCAF came up with the assessment that there is a need for a style-guide and branding manual to standardize the writing style of the agency. -JC