Tuguegarao City, Cagayan- The Information and Communications Technology Unit (ICTU) of the Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (PMED) in partnership with the Training Unit of the Finance and Administrative Division (FAD), spearheaded an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) capacitation training for some 56 employees from different divisions and research centers/experiment stations of the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Office 02 (DA RFO 02) entitled “DA-RFO 02 Official Website User’s Training Cum Basic Geographic Information System (GIS) Training” on March 20-22,2018.
Mr. Jaime M. Pagalilauan, fad chief, opened the activity in lieu of the Regional Executive Director. He challenged the ICTU to intensify its efforts in building the capability of DA RFO 02 in terms of ICT as the top management sees the importance of the role of ICT in the efficiency and effectiveness of delivering the products and services to DA clienteles.
Resource persons for the training were ICTU personnel, namely, Bryan Jaquine J. Rasalan for the DA-RFO 02 Official Website User’s Training, and Jonazon Jeff T. Factora and Jerome A. Valoria for the GIS Training. While it’s true that establishing linkages by inviting external resource persons is beneficial to an organization, PMED decided to have its own ICT experts promote knowledge sharing within the organization.
On the DA-RFO 02 Official Website User’s Training, topics and activities presented were Web Operationalization Project Overview; Web Information Management Assessment wherein an evaluation framework was proposed to improve the current performance indicators of the website process in a holistic way; Review of the Government Web Template (GWT); Hands-on experience on sharing information on the website; Review and improvement of the Quality Management System (QMS) process for the website; and the Reconstitution of the Special Order for the Website Team. In addition, the draft Administrative Order (A.O.) for the Government Policy on Social Media Use was also discussed as an initial information for planning purposes before the A.O. will be enforced.
On the GIS training, topics and activities presented were Introduction to Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS) which is an Open Source GIS software for processing geographic data to generating information on a map; and hands-on exercises on basic and intermediate GIS process. Moreover, existing GIS like the National Color-Coded Agriculture Guide Map (NCCAG), the Philippine Rice Information System (PRISm) and Applied Geotagging Technology (AGT) component of the Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP) website were demonstrated to explain concepts and possible application of GIS to the trainees.
During the closing program, Gayle Valerie Ramos of the training unit facilitated the training evaluation and assigned three trainees to share their impressions to the training. Notable impressions were from Dr. Rodrigo Sonico who said that he was thankful because the selection of trainees by PMED was not aged discriminating, and from Ms. Loida Basug who requested to have localized version of the training for Quirino Experiment Station (QES) employees. Impression for improvement to future pieces of training was to consider other experts on GIS like the Regional Agricultural Engineering Division (RAED) as resource persons, which was also brought out by Ms. Loida Basug.
Special awards were given to top 2 most avid information sharers, namely, Kurt Sander Daliauag from Agribusiness and Marketing Assistance Division (AMAD) (1st place) and Ms. Ma. Lea Solivio from Records Unit of FAD (2nd place) as an acknowledgment of their effort and willingness to embrace an information sharing culture thru the use of the website. Other information sharers were enticed to continue using the website for incentives were programmed on the Web Operationalization Project.
Dr. Ernesto D. Guzman, regulatory division chief, delivered encouraging closing remarks who urged the trainees to continue using their learnings in their respective workplaces and contribute to the betterment of performance of DA RFO 02.
