Communication, as we define it, is the process of imparting or exchanging information and/or messages. But as easy as it sounds, it is also something that many of us, individual and organization alike, lack in many aspects. In our modern world, communication is becoming all the more important for us to understand what is going on around us and how we respond to it. Today, clamor for transparency, accountability, and access to information is stronger than ever. That is why communication is necessary in many organizations.

Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) whose mandate is to do humanitarian work need to ensure that they are proactive in communication. The role of communication in CSOs is to share information, tell stories, protect the brand’s reputation, and engage in conversations that inspire people to join their organization in fulfilling its mission. As a humanitarian organization, it is required to communicate through stories, through images, videos and through words. It is through these stories that the organization’s vision and mission are promoted.

It is for this reason that the Philippine Misereor Partnership Inc (PMPI) and the League of Authors of Public Interest Songs (LAPIS) forged a partnership to train PMPI member NGOs in social media work, recognizing media as a very important arena in advocacy building. Dubbed “Komunikamp”, the program is a 15-day extensive training camp on effective communication with focus on social media. Throughout the 15-day camp, participants, mostly advocacy and communications officers from the PMPI members were trained on 20 communications, media production, and digital media courses by select specialists and professionals from mainstream institutions/organizations.

As Communications Officer of CODE-NGO, I had the privilege to join and participate in Komunikamp’s third batch of trainees. Together with representatives from Magsasaka at Siyentipiko para sa pag-unlad ng Agrikultura (MASIPAG-VISAYAS), Integrative Medicine for Alternative Healthcare Systems (INAM PHILIPPINES), Social Action Center Iligan (SAC-ILIGAN), Social Action Center Dipolog (SAC-DIPOLOG), and Philippine Misereor Partnership Inc. (PMPI), our training was held on November 10-24, 2019 at LAPIS’ Shareware Campus in Quezon City.

Having earned a communications degree, I expected the training camp to be a little easier to navigate for me than the rest of the other participants. Most short courses discussed were basics of what we learned through college. But what set the lessons apart was that they were taught by individuals who had hands-on experience in communicating their own advocacies and years of practice in their own expertise. Hence, our mentors were able to teach the courses in a way that is easier to understand and absorbed by the participants who had no prior knowledge in communications.

While I found it easier to understand lessons and presentations during the camp, it was the content planning workshop that I had the most appreciation of. Content planning taught us to plan out how we want to communicate our own organizations’ mission and vision to reach our audiences. Since the focus of Komunikamp is digital and/or social media, content planning aided us on how to maximize social media channels as effective communication platforms to convey our message to our target market.

But Komunikamp isn’t just about theories and plans. We were also taught how to do production work as part of our communication tools. During the training, we were expected to come up with our own audio-visual (AV) scripts, a one-minute Public Service Announcement (PSA) about a certain social issue, a musical parody, a music video for the said parody, a livestream production, and digital posters. All these, we were able to do with the help of our camp mates, LAPIS team, and our mentors as well.

Production work were the most hectic and the busiest of all the days we spent at Komunikamp. Personally, it was the most enjoyable too. I felt like reliving my days in college poring over scripts, getting tired shooting scenes, and barely sleeping at all editing the videos that we did. And although there were moments when we feel drained from doing a lot of activities, my camp mates and I still found time to have fun, laugh it out, and bond over stories from our own experiences.

Capping off our Komunikamp training, LAPIS brought us all to Dinalupihan, Bataan where our culmination activity and graduation rites were held. The best part of it was being able to take off our hats as advocacy and communication officers and enjoy the activities in store for us as a small family. The friendship that we were able to build among ourselves and the bond created through this training was for me, the best take-away. Though there were only six of us participating in this batch, we formed a great bond with each other, sharing our own experiences at work and even with our personal lives.

Going home after camp, I brought with me one of my best experiences in CSO work so far – learning, training, and building friendship with the people I had absolutely no chance of meeting if not for Komunikamp. I will forever be grateful to have been given the chance to participate in this program and the memories I have created with my camp mates and mentors will be cherished. Padayon!