eNews | 04 May 2015 | Visit our website at www.ansa-eap.net
ANSA-EAP project staff get geo-certified
Three members of the ANSA-EAP family have obtained certifications on Geotagging: Field Application and Data Sharing Using Mobile Apps and Online Platforms from the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA).
Gladys Honey Selosa, Shigemi Muramatsu and Arnel Culala completed the course from February 16 to February 18, 2015 at the NAMRIA Geomatics Training Center in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.
Geotagging is the process of adding location data, specifically latitude and longitude, into an image file or digital resource. Various devices with digital cameras and global positioning system (GPS) capability can be used to geotag.
Completion of the course is equivalent to a TESDA certification and enables the participants to conduct geotagging training on their own.
CMS facilitates help for Guimaras schools
A Yolanda-battered public school in an island barangay in Guimaras has been scheduled for repair by the local government after intervention by Checkmyschool.
CMS Guimaras visited Unisan Multigrade School, a four-classroom school in Bgy. Guiwanon, Nueva Valencia town in Guimaras, in February 2015 for data updating. This is a key process of the CMS program that captures the real condition of schools through citizen monitoring and feedback.
The citizens informed the CMS team that the school had been badly damaged with one of its roofs having been blown off.
ANSA-EAP teams up with Save the Children for children’s rights in disaster context
Representatives of ANSA-EAP and the national and field offices of Save the Children, as well as the latter’s local partners, gathered in a two -day meeting to discuss the implementation of Project CHARGE on March 26 and 27, 2015 at Brentwood Suites, Quezon City.
CHARGE stands for Championing Children’s Rights in Rehabilitation through Government-Civil Society-Children. Its goal is to create a strong policy environment and governance for children’s rights in the context of disaster risk reduction and management.
Countries in the Lower Mekong sub-region, composed of Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam, are slowly but decisively making strides in social accountability. ANSA-EAP is happy to be part of this process.
Cambodia, for instance, has been a priority for ANSA-EAP since 2008. Despite the challenges in its socio-political setting, we saw great potential in pursuing the social accountability agenda for the country, at least as a learning exercise for both government and civil society. And indeed for the past seven years, ANSA-EAP’s presence in Cambodia has thrived; our social accountability initiatives have continued to gain ground.
Political science teacher Anthony Badilla of Palawan State University was in the process of organizing a half-day activity among his students. While surfing the Web, he had read about a new program called Citizen Participatory Audit, spearheaded by the Commission on Audit through partnership with a civil society organization. He thought it was a great, novel way of involving citizens in running the government.
He had wanted to create an opportunity for his students to translate what they were learning to more tangible action beyond the walls of the university.
In early December, however, Mr. Badilla received an invitation to attend a geotagging workshop organized by, of all agencies, the CoA. Imagine thus his surprise when he discovered that the workshop was an activity of the same CPA that he had been reading about and wanted to share to his students.
Mainstreaming Social Accountability in Vietnam
A team from ANSA-EAP Foundation conducted a “Workshop on Social Accountability: Tools & Approaches” at the Army Hotel in Hanoi City, Vietnam, on April 8 to 10, 2015.
The resource persons cum facilitators were Adelfo V. Briones, Learning Manager, and Gladys Honey Fontamillas Seloso, Project Manager.
The learning event was held upon the invitation of the Australian Foundation for Peoples of Asia and the Pacific in Vietnam (AFAP). The activity was crucial for the Awakening the Silent Voice Project led by AFAP and supported by the Irish Aid and the Public Participation and Accountability Facilitation Fund (PARAFF). The project aims to empower local people and civil society organizations (CSOs) to effectively engage and advocate in public programme and service delivery planning and monitoring in two of the poorest provinces in Northwest Vietnam through the introduction of a localized social accountability approach and development of a simple, efficient and effective monitoring framework for the Socio-Economic Development Plan (SEDP) and National Target Program (NTP) 135 Phase III.
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