PIA Press Release
Friday, January 27, 2012 LGUs undergo Best Practices Documentation Writeshop for Ecological Tourism Roadmapby Mary Christine Anthonette M. SaliseBUTUAN CITY, Jan. 27 (PIA) -- The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Caraga Regional Office, in partnership with the Local Government Academy and Agencia Española de Cooperacion Internacional para el Desarrollo, conducted a two-day workshop dubbed as “Best Practices Documentation Writeshop: Ecological Tourism Roadmap of Caraga in Focus” on January 25-26, 2012 at the Almont Hotel’s Inland Resort, this city. Seventy participants from 20 pre-identified local government units with potential best practices on ecotourism that are replicable attended the said workshop which consists of Designated LGU Best Documenters, LGU Tourism Officers/Designate, City /Municipal Local Government Operations Officers, partners from the Academe, representatives from partner CSOs and respresentatives from partner NGAs. The purpose of the writeshop is to capacitate LGU documenters and equip them with necessary skills in the proper documentation of best practices using the GO-FAR template. It also aims to enhance the skills of LGU tourism officers/designate in the preparation of advocacy materials on ecotourism. During her opening remarks, DILG Assistant Regional Director Lilibeth A. Famacion said that replication of best practices is considered an effective strategy of local government units in the area of good governance. It helps the LGUs achieve effective delivery of basic services as well as achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other national awards and recognitions. “The substantivity of replication of best practices depends on the wealth of information the LGUs can give in their documentation,” she said. The DILG is here to assist the LGUs come up with proper documentation of their Best Practices especially in the area of ecotourism,” she added. During the writeshop, the participants were briefed on the Relevant Environmental Laws on EcoTourism and the Guidelines in Documenting Best Practices. They were also given inputs on the Preparation of Advocacy Materials particularly on Branding Guidelines and Using Catchy Tag Lines to give impact to their next best practices documentation. Jimmy P. Abayon of the Tourism Office of Compostella Valley shared ComVal’s Best Practices on tourism projects. He shared tips on documenting and packaging best practices to make them more appealing to the readers. Rommel M. Oribe of the Department of Trade and Industry discussed the topic on Technical Writing to guide the participants to use simple, direct but concise words in documenting best practices to be able to convey the message clearly to the targeted audiences like the general public. He said that the words used especially in documenting best practices should leave no room for imagination to the recipients so the language used must be plain and in layman’s terms. The writeshop also paved the way for some LGUs to showcase their Best Practice Documents and Advocacy Materials through the Gallery Display and the LGU which bested the other contingents is the Municipality of Esperanza. A number of LGUs in Caraga Region have already demonstrated good local governance performance particularly on ecological concerns. Replication among LGUs is a powerful tool for development and increase the popularization of good practices in ecological solid waste management and climate change adaptation as well as on replicable ecotourism practices. (DILG-13/PIA-Caraga) | 
