A total of 10 community organizers from PEACE Network members co-implementing the Sustaining Bibingka Initiatives for ARRDD (SBIARRDD) project underwent a crash course in media and propaganda work last 9-11 March 2006. Held in Ciudad Christhia, the crash course was also attended by two PEACE Foundation staff.
The crash course was organized in an attempt to help the Network members raise the level of public attention to their respective advocacies so that these effect change in policy environment at the national and local levels.
On the first day, the principles, processes and techniques of advocacy and propaganda work were tackled. The participants were made to understand the similarities and differences between the two areas of work. In addition, the basics of working with media were tackled. This session on media relations dealt with projecting the organization, managing the media, and dos and don’ts.
The first day ended with a session on writing press statements and press releases. The participants knew what distinguished a press release from a press statement. After being shown the steps, the participants were instructed to each write a press release as well as a press statement.
On the second day, the outputs of the individual exercises on writing press releases and statements were subjected to plenary critique. The participants realized the importance of the writer’s grasp of issues being highlighted in the press release as well as the function of the headline and lead paragraphs to capture readers’ interest and deliver the meat of the story.
Likewise, the participants were taught how to hold a press conference taking into consideration the rigid preparation work as well as the flair to handle media during the conference itself. To test the participants’ learning, two workshop groups were organized to each prepare for and conduct a mock press conference. The workshops tackled “Justice for Ka Hernan Baria (a farmer shot to death in Iloilo)” and “Women’s Day mobilization” as their respective themes. The workshop presentations were subjected to plenary critique.
On the third day, the participants were asked to formulate their respective advocacy and media campaign plans. Before this took place, a session on issue analysis had been conducted.
Forming the training team were the Media Relations and Public Information Officer, National Coordinator, LTI Specialist, and Institution Building Specialist.