Enhancing learning alliances through participatory message design and materials development

Another learning alliance activity held on 13-14 July brought partners together to brainstorm about effective ways to communicate hermetic storage in a Message Design and Materials Development Workshop. About 20 participants from NGOs, local government, International Rice Research Institute, and the Philippine Rice Research Institute were present for this activity.

 The workshop aimed to develop unified key messages on hermetic storage, one of the main postharvest technologies of the learning alliance. More importantly, from feedback during the 3rd learning alliance meeting, the need to unify postharvest messages amidst the emerging rice-based projects like the Philippine Rice Self-sufficiency Plan (PRSSP) was highly recognized; hence, the workshop was conceptualized.

 Trina Mendoza, a senior communication specialist, facilitated the activity. Participatory approaches were used in consultation with anthropologist Rica Flor to elicit the crucial elements in materials designing—communication objectives, key messages, and target audiences. In order to do that, information leveling was done by briefing the participants on the key hermetic storage principles and the importance of linking the workshop output to the PRSSP.

A flyer enumerating the benefits of a Superbag was one of the outputs of the activity. This material was translated to Bisaya 

 Outputs of the event were two draft flyers (in English and Visayan language) and a flipchart. Everyone had an opportunity to critique and revise the materials according to the gathered comments.  A week after, a pretesting activity with farmers in Calauan, Laguna, was done to fine-tune the materials.

 This workshop shows how partners in a learning alliance can do more through synergy and learning from feedback. Now that partners have addressed this need for a template, many of them plan to echo what happened to others in the alliance. The materials produced would be a template which partners with the mandate for extension can surely use. In addition to the series of hermetic storage training done this year, here is another activity wherein the project partners can take as a jump-off point for another learning cycle in the process of effectively bringing out hermetic storage technologies.

View the workshop report here