Forum Asia trains MP youth on digital social networking

BONTOC, Mountain Province – At least 40 students and personnel of the Mountain province State Polytechnic College here started training here yesterday on digital social networking for indigenous youth and communities.

The sessions which will end Dec. 2 will be conducted by international digital social networking experts from Forum Asia, a prestigious international non-government organization.

The acronym stands for Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development. It is a regional membership-based human rights alliance of 42 members in 16 countries in Asia. The members in the Philippines are Task Force Detainees Philippines, Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates, Tanggol Kalikasan, Pilipina Resource Center, and Paglilingkod Batas Pangkapatiran Foundation, Inc.

FA has a programme called Ethnic Minorities and Indigenous Peoples in Southeast Asia Programme.

This is a thematic programme under the East Asia country-based programme. EM-IP SEAP is funded by the Southeast Asia Regional Cooperation in Human Development, an initiative funded in turn by the Canadian International Development Agency.

The SEARCH initiative target three populations: ethnic minorities, children and migrant workers in following 7 countries in the Southeast Asia: Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia and Timor Leste.

The EM-IP SEAP started in 2006 and aims to promote the rule of law by strengthening the legal and institutional mechanisms for the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities.

One of the themes we are working on this year is capacity-building for setting up digital networks of ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples. The purpose of this is to build the equip groups and communities of ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples to build digital networks for the protection and promotion of their rights, for building the awareness of the public on issues, concerns and their situation, to promote their causes, all these within the framework of responsible use of digital technology.

The objectives of the training are to provide training on a digital platform allowing MPSPC students and selected personnel to enhance their own Indigenous youth networks across the Cordillera, the Philippines and the global village and Along with the digital training section of the program, the participants will have an opportunity of collectively producing a three minute video on any human rights topic of their choice.

The expected outputs of the training includes the effective and efficient use of participatory media, surf the internet, set up MPSPC own website page, how to upload photos and video, among others.

Dr. Nieves A. Dacyon, MPSPC president, said the collaboration between the State-run higher education institution and FA will surely help develop the information and communication capability of students and personnel as they strive to attain university hood status in the future. -- Dexter A. See