DAVAO CITY — With seven Sectoral Services, five Provincial Offices, and six 2023 banner programs, the scope of the MENRE substantially covers the environment, natural resources, and potential energy sources in the Bangsamoro region. From forest management, environmental management, biodiversity conservation and protection, research and development, energy management and development, to mines and geosciences—the crafting of information, education, and communication (IEC) materials to promote the programs, projects, and activities derived from these services may come as a challenge. Fortunately, here comes the Multimedia Production Workshop organized by the Ministry on 16-17 November 2022 that targets to enhance the skills of selected MENRE employees in the fundamentals of photography, photo editing, videography, video editing, graphics design, and content creation.

The Ministry’s Information and Communications Division (ICD) partnered with Filmspire Multimedia Productions (FMP), a professional multimedia production company based in Davao City, to commence a series of multimedia production training-workshops. This will continue building up the existing potentials and skills of the MENRE employees in utilizing photos and videos that will share the stories about the Bangsamoro environment, natural resources, and energy.

“The crafting of information materials is very vital in an organization’s public awareness campaign because aside from talking to our stakeholders face to face, these materials, whether in print or virtual, are our best way of communicating to our partners, beneficiaries, and clients,” said AJ Marohom, the head of MENRE-ICD.

FMP Executive Director Denise Isabel Terio, Creative Director Vince Joseph Lim, Marketing and PR Executive Neyanne Gail Bringuer, and Multimedia Creative Head Karl Elthon Anunciado thoroughly discussed videography and editing, photography and editing, content creation, and graphics design, respectively. They were assisted by Technical and Production Assistants Joshua Roque and Ricardo Jett Langa. Their team also did a series of demonstrations for each of these topics and facilitated an activity for the participants to apply their learnings from the said lectures.

“Where do we go from here?”, asked ICD. “Once we have further developed and begun executing our strategic communication plan as one Ministry, us in the ICD, the PENREOs, and the Sectoral Services will hopefully begin carrying one branding. In this way, when the general public sees our information materials, they will instantly recognize that “Ah right, this is from MENRE.”

The MENRE-ICD plans to conduct a number of capacity development activities that aim to intensify the overall information campaign of the Environment Ministry. As the Ministry’s official publication arm, the ultimate goal is to increase the knowledge and understanding of the Bangsamoro people about the MENRE’s mandate, programs, projects, and the environmental advocacies that come with these activities.