Group to hold trainings to develop ICT hubs

In a bid to promote digital literacy in public libraries, the Asian Society for Social Improvement and Sustainable Transformation (Assist), an international non-governmental organization, will train starting today public library staff, teachers, and another commu- nity members to develop libraries into community hubs for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and digital literacy.

This is in partnership with the Molave Development Foundation Inc., and in cooperation with

the Davao City Library and Information Center (CLIC).

Davao City Librarian Pedrita Badar said around 20 teachers from CLIC, who were deployed to Calinan, Baguio in Calinan, and teachers from public schools will attend the threeday training that will serve as a venue for participants to acquire knowledge and skills to transform their libraries into a Digibayanihan 2.0 Center for Excellence (CoE).

Digibayanihan is an innovative digital empowerment movement aimed to provide digital enabled literacy and digital citizenship amongst Filipinos.

This training will prepare participants to develop libraries to become CoE, a community hub for ICT enabled services such as digital literacy, education, e-government, and workforce development. By becoming a CoE, public library staff, teachers, and other community members will be trained as Digibayanihan trainers, advocates and service providers, through trainings that focus on digital library and digital content development workshops.

The training will start today until Thursday.

Aside from the Digibayanihan, the CLIC of Davao last year been declared as Technology for Education, Employment, Entrepreneurs, and Economic Development (Tech4ED) hub after Davao City Mayor Sara Z. DuterteCarpio signed a memorandum of agreement (Moa) with the Department of Information and Communications Technology for the program last year.

Through the Tech4ed program, those who want to avail Alternative Learning System modules can access the Tech4ed, as it has multimedia content, adding that the DICT provided the platform, which contains more than 8 million ebooks, skills program modules for lectures, and many useful books.

The materials contained in the program are gathered in collaboration between government agencies, Department of Education, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Agriculture (DA).

Currently, the city library's 27 computer units, donated by Beyond Access, a New York based organization, have modules that are stand-alone learning materials and can be accessed without internet. It also has materials that can only be assessed through internet connection.