PALO, Leyte -- The Regional Development Council (RDC) VIII-Advocacy Subcommittee, chaired by the Philippine Information Agency 8, conducted a series of trainings for information officers (IOs) of RDC VIII-member agencies from 7 June to 12 July 2022.
The trainings aimed to enhance the ability of government IOs in advocating and communicating government programs and projects to the public, especially with the advent of new platforms and technologies.
The half-day trainings covered the following topics: advance use of MS Office applications; orientation on Google Workspace; cybersecurity and digital literacy; social media management; essentials of Canva; and essentials of Open Broadcaster System (OBS).
Claire P. Fernandez, the Leyte Provincial Officer of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) VIII led the trainings on the first four topics.
Her presentations focused on demonstrating the use of advanced features of Microsoft Word and PowerPoint as well as the use of productivity and collaboration tools, software, and products developed and marketed by Google.
She likewise explained the importance of cybersecurity amidst the threats faced by IOs in the digital space, and showcased the steps in building an effective social media strategy.
Meanwhile, Jana Thalia C. Alano of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)- Development Information Staff (DIS), demoed the basic features of Canva, a free online graphical tool. Canva provides IOs an easy-to-use platform to create social media graphics, presentations, and other visual content for free or with purchasable design templates.
Further, Raphy A. Dalan of the Leyte Normal University discussed the use of the Open Broadcaster Software, an application used to produce professional live streams and video recordings compatible with Zoom, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram, among others.
Spanning six weeks, the trainings were hosted by the DICT VIII and NEDA VIII via Zoom and Facebook Live. Though primarily targeted for government IOs, the trainings were also joined by non-IO participants all over the region who were interested to learn from the top experts in the field. (LDL/VR/Photos by KA/NEDA VIII)
