One of the core principles of the Philippine Community eCenter Program is to “focus on the unserved, underserved and vulnerable groups, especially children, women and senior citizens”.

As CeC managers and knowledge workers, we need to sit back and reflect on how our CeCs have been operating. How confident are we that our CeC is really responsive and relevant to the needs of our community? Is this core principle really put into practice? Let’s try to answer some of these questions:

1.    Do you believe that Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) such as computers and the Internet are largely gender-neutral?
2.    Are there local policies or ordinances in place in the local government unit (LGU) that highlight gender and gender issues, and are they also being implemented in the CeC?
3.    Are the CeC management and staff aware about the concepts of gender, gender sensitivity, and gender roles and relations? Have you already undergone Gender Sensitivity training?

One comforting thought for a field researcher and data collector, when you are out there in remote, far-flung barangays, is the realization that there is someone watching over you, making sure that you are safe, and checks that you are doing your job well.This is the premise behind the Research Mentoring Component in conducting community-based participatory research for Community eCenters, using the Gender Evaluation Methodology (GEM).

The idea is for a cadre of able-bodied, mature and capable volunteers from the community to act as “kuya (elder brother)” and “ate (elder sister)” to a group of younger individuals who have been trained to conduct surveys in barangays and other locations in the municipality. Mentors have intimate knowledge of the communities, know who to talk to, which local officials to liaise with, and have the drive to guide the field researchers under him or her to do a good job collecting data. Mentors are also there to ensure the safety of the data collectors, and to check on the progress of accomplishing the survey forms and to coordinate the whole effort with the CeC manager, staff and data encoders. This was a challenging task that was put forward to a formidable group of men and women selected by the CeC Managers in Bato, Leyte and Binalonan, Pangasinan.

Thanks to the National Computer Center for the Local Exchange Program, we learned a lot. Tanauan Leyte Community eCenter is now offering a superb program for out-of-school youth and adults (OSYAs), the eSkwela Program which is spearheaded by the Commission on ICT - Human Capital Development Group.

The eSkwela Center at Tanauan CeC was launched last February 25 at the New Town Hall. In attendance were Gov. Petilla, Vice Gov. Bagulaya, officials from the Department of Education (DepEd) Region 8 and Leyte Division, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Literary Coordinating Council Manila, and Philippine Information Agency Officials. NCC IT Coordinator Ms. Claire Fernandez was also there to witness the event along with the Alternative Learning System (ALS) coordinators and mobile teachers from differents municipalities, officials of Tanauan's fifty-four barangays, and some learners.

During the launch, Gov. Petilla pledged an additional ten computer units for the program. This will bring the total number of computers at Tanauan CeC to twenty.

Again, damo nga salamat ("thank you very much") NCC officials: Ma'am Tess, Ma'am Cheng, Ma'am Terry and Ma'am Cuch.

PWDs learn to use the computer at the telecenter in Club Bellvitge in Spain

During last month’s telecentre.org Community Facilitators Meeting in Barcelona, Spain, we had the opportunity to visit the telecenter housed at Club Infantil i Juvenil Bellvitge, one of the social inclusion facilities being managed by Fundación Esplai. Said telecenter is under the government telecenter network in Cataluña called Red Omnia, and is actually one of the first centers established under the network.

Red Omnia has three areas of action: employability, community integration and training.

Aside from the fact that the entire center was well-maintained with very good facilities to boot, what really struck me most was the diversity of services offered at the telecenter, foremost of which is the program that they have for persons with disabilities or PWDs.