By Kenrich P Gapasin & Norman C Calib-og

The City Local Government Unit of Cagayan de Oro (ECCD-CdO), in collaboration with the UP Center for Women’s Studies Foundations Inc (UPCWSFI) and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), organized a two-day Technical Assistance Planning Workshop in relation to the on-going project called "Development and Learning Loss Recovery: Strengthening Systems for Capacity Building of Child Development Workers (CDWs) and Child Development Teachers (CDTs)". The event took place at the Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan, AVR 1 Old Library Building on 21-22 June 2023.

The primary objective of this workshop was to establish and implement competency-based technical assistance mechanisms that would facilitate the continuous professional growth and development of Child Development Workers (CDWs) and Child Development Teachers (CDTs).

The workshop was attended by various participants, including Ms Anecia Tongson, RSW, head of the CSWD personnel, Ms Joan Acraman, the Social Welfare and Community Development Unit Head, Mr Kalvin Y Dalapo, the CSWD-ECCD Department Head, five District Officers, ECCD Monitoring Personnel, selected Community Development Teachers/Workers, and faculty members specializing in Early Childhood Education from the School of Education of Xavier Ateneo. This workshop was a follow-up to the previous ECCD-Project Implementation Rollouts, which took place in two phases on 15-1 March and 13-14 April 2023, and involved selected CDTs and CDWs from different Child Development Centers in Cagayan de Oro City.

Mr Romano Antonio Wamil, the facilitator from UPCWSFI, outlined the specific targets for the planning workshop. These included reviewing and providing feedback on the self-assessment results of the CDTs and CDWs in relation to the competency standards set by ECCD and UNICEF, assessing the systems and mechanisms required to support the operationalization of the competency standards, envisioning the aspirations for achieving excellence in CDTs, CDWs, and ECCD facilities based on the framework of competency standards, and formulating a three-year Technical Assistance Plan that would establish mechanisms for the professionalization of ECCD service providers, with provisions for monitoring and evaluation.

To ensure effective outcomes, participants were engaged in a series of workshops, allowing them to have insightful discussions and gain the necessary skills to develop the technical assistance plan. Ms Cecil Arcadio from UNICEF emphasized the significance of documenting and validating the results of this workshop, as it would serve as a model for other Local Government Units (LGUs) in the country. Meanwhile, Dr Miriam I Ugaddan of the Department of Family Life and Child Development, College of Home Economics from the University of the Philippines highlighted the vital role the participants played in the planning workshop.

During the workshop, participants from different districts presented their ideas on how they envisioned ECCD-CdO over the next three years. They used the Strategic Direction, Operational Plan, and Activity Plan to outline their visions and high-level goals, while also identifying potential barriers and proposing solutions to achieve their objectives.

After each workshop session, a plenary and open forum were conducted, providing attendees with an opportunity to share their insights and observations.

In her closing remarks, Ms Tongson expressed her full endorsement and commitment to implementing the carefully devised plan developed during the workshop. She also emphasized the importance of establishing plantilla items for the Community Development Teams (CDTs).