Some 45 employees of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DA, most of them development facilitators in seven municipal offices of Davao del Sur, participated in a three-day seminar-training to acquaint and enable them to acquire more knowledge in journalism and communications.
DAR Davao del Sur provincial officer Wilson Antiga said the activity is geared towards increasing public awareness on the implememntation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) in the province through public relations, information, and social marketing strategy that utilize the influence of tri-media to inform stakeholders on important activities of the department.
Antiga said the 45 participants underwent training on news and feature writing, including preparation of project proposals and technical writeshops in the seminar held at the Crown Regency Hotel on Cabaguio Avenue in this city. The activity started on June 4 and ends on June 6, he said.
“We would like to reach out more to the public and be heard in any way we can,” Antiga said, adding there are a lot of inspiring stories that are happening to our farmer-beneficiaries, and success stories that are begging to be told.
He said there are also projects implemented that helped improved agriculture production and these are the stories we want to be heard by the public.
Among the resource speakers is Ed Fernandez, book author, journalist, educator and development worker, who emphasized the use of simple, accurate and precise words to write news or feature stories, Antiga said.
“You don’t have to use unfamiliar words to brag about your stories. What is important is for you to be easily understood,” Fernandez said. [PNA]
