Report by Alyssa Michelle Viado and Meira Steffanie Andutan
Senior Development Communication students of Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan are spearheading a congress for young communicators in Mindanao dubbed as “ECHO 2017” on February 18 at the Pilgrim Christian College Auditorium.
The student-led congress opts to strengthen the role of communication in achieving sustainable cities, as it plays an important role in converging sectors and ideas – from simplifying government policies, lifting up citizen problems at grass roots level to the government, to bringing together the projects and facilities of public and private organizations.
On its second year, ECHO 2017 will kick off the annual DevCom week celebration with the theme, “Creating Sustainable Cities through Communication,” in support of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal No 11 – Creating Sustainable Cities and Communities by 2030 – and how communicators can become stewards of social change.
“A sustainable city is built on unity, and communication relationships play a really great part in it,” said ECHO 2017 project head Adam Anay.
“I do believe that communication has an important role to play in achieving SDG 11. We aim to assimilate everything in order to achieve this goal because we have multi-faceted agencies working together – we have the NGO, the government, and we have the local citizens,” he added.
This year’s ECHO congress opens its doors to all communication students across Mindanao in high hopes of unifying them, creating active communication participants and extending their social networks in this field.
ECHO will be marked by the lecture of Maria Ressa, CEO of social news network Rappler, and panelists from different agencies to discuss the issues related to the theme of the event. Part of the line-up is a talk with the production crew of the upcoming “Smaller and Smaller Circles” film.
The idea for ECHO emerged when the faculty and students of the DevCom department of Xavier Ateneo saw a need for a local communicators’ congress in Mindanao that is student-centered and student-organized.
“Engaging Communicators, Hearing Opinions” was the intended name of the congress before it was shortened to ECHO, which fulfills its point on emphasizing its true meaning – to resound a point from one communicator to the other.
“The reverberation of sound that an echo represents is so much like in the communication process. As this event is especially for communication students, it also serves as a venue for these audiences to reflect on issues in the society or even in the field of communication itself and answer to the challenges that come with it,” said Development Communication Society moderator Rechelle Tolinero-Barraquias.
ECHO 2017 offers students the opportunity to build a strong network of communicators, empower them to become outstanding media practitioners in the future, and pioneer social change in Mindanao. ∎
For more details and inquiries about the event, you may visit their Facebook page – ECHO: Mindanao Young Communicators Congress or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..