Day 2 - the Philippines study visit

[Laurentiu Bunescu]

The day started with a presentation of eLGU (Jumpstarting Electronic Governance in Local Government), an initiative of CICT that assists local governments in the smooth transition to eGovernance. As a result of the project, all LGUs (Local Government Units), and we are talking here about more than 1500 communities, have online presence and they are going through a process of development of their websites, adding more interactivity and online tax payment services.

After the presentation, I met Dr Angelo Juan Ramos (PhilCecNet Chair) and we had a very good conversation over a couple of hours. Angelo comes from the NGO sector, running his own NGO. He is the representative of the NGO sector in PhilCecNet Board, and was elected Chair. We talked about future potential paths for closer collaboration, and we concluded that there are a number of areas that we can explore together: content development, competencies standards for telecentre workers, knowledge exchange (PhilCecNet has already organized a series of local staff exchanges, and they will share with us outcomes, learnings and challenges)

We have also discussed about one of the most important target groups that telecentres have in the Philippines, but also in Europe – migrants and overseas workers. (e.g. Communication between the Filipino workers from Europe and their families from Philippine is facilitated by telecentres from Europe and Philippine.)

I think that a great STRENGTH of PhilCecNet is represented by the endless opportunities resulted from the multisectoral partnership within the network strategic and coordination bodies. The government supports the telecentres in local communities (sustainability), the academe sector / universities are developing training services and conduct researches, NGOs bring know-how in telecentre coordination, services and the community spirit in telecentres, the private sector comes with financial support and content resources, media sector - promotional and information channels for the network, funding agencies – financial support.

Telecentre networks need inputs from all these sectors at different levels, and PhilCecNet is doing a very good job, coordinating all these inputs and transform them in benefits for members. One of these proactive and innovative PhilCecNet partners is eTESDA, a governmental facility for providing online technical vocational and training services to its various clientele.
eTESDA has developed an eLearning application for different target groups. One of them is the unemployed people. eTESDA has a set of tools that can build career profiles, job matching, databases and placement to employers. The system is ingenious and innovative, and I think that this kind of resources could be relevant for European telecentres.

eTesda runs a network of 80 centers, nationwide coverage, that are being now identified as eCenters, members of PhilCecNet.
Mr Lorenzo Guillermo (eTesda Project manager and Philippine Academy Chair) has briefed us on the initiative at the location of eTESDA offices, where the Philippine Academy will also be hosted.

tPCA or The Telecentre.org - Philippine Community eCenter Academy is based on the same multisectoral model and works as a capability-building arm of the PhilCecNet. The academy has already started to produce valuable products for telecentres and telecentre workers. A curriculum structure was already elaborated for telecentre operators, and courses are in development.
Competency standards were also developed and will become the base for professionalization of telecentre workers. All these documents produced by tPCA will be available for other academies or networks, including the courses for telecentre operators.