Participants of the April 8 Roadmap Consultation Workshop in Baguio pose for posterity with facilitator and PhilCeCNet Chair Angelo Ramos (seated, second from left)

The Regional Consultative Workshops for the Philippine Community eCenter (CeC) Roadmap for 2011 – 2016 started out on a high note in the City of Pines (Baguio). It was an action-packed day, filled with passionate discussions, lively knowledge sharing and good cheer. The workshop was facilitated by none other than the Philippine CeC Network (PhilCeCNet) Chair, Dr. Angelo Juan Ramos, and was attended by twenty-one participants from the different CeCs in Regions I to III.

Dr. Ramos gave an overview of the Philippine CeC Situation through the showing of the 5th Knowledge Exchange Conference audio-visual presentation as well as discussed the accomplishments of the PhilCeCNet from 2008 to 2010.

The participants are then divided into two groups and were instructed to draw their vision of the CeC – how they think CeCs should look like in the year 2016. A few minutes and a lot of laughs later, both groups presented their meaningful artworks. Their presentations gave a lot of interesting suggestions on the development of the CeCs towards the coming years.

It has been an eventful and exciting three years for the Philippine Community eCenter (CeC) movement.

As of 2010, 153 out of the 188 sites for new CeCs have been identified and approved and the CeC equipment rollout is ongoing. The award winning PhilCeC portal is currently online and is being updated and enhanced continuously.  Joint projects for content development are also being conducted with PhilCeCNet partners in their respective fields of expertise.

The telecentre.org-Philippine CeC Academy (tPCA) is also up and running following a successful run of four pilot courses (which will soon be converted to distance education mode) and regular courses are also being conducted. The tPCA Accreditation Standards and Certification Procedures have been developed and approved.