it@coops Philippines

I.T. tandem teaches co-ops to be tech savvy

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Veteran Information Technology specialists, Allan Jeffrey A. Mendoza and Ron J. Halos continue to bring computer technology to various cooperatives nationwide as they held seminars recently in this city, and in Ilocos Sur province as well.

In a 3-day seminar held at the Pearl Mont Hotel, the tandem taught 16 participants from various cooperatives in Mindanao the use of software packages Adobe Photo
Shop and Adobe InDesign. Both packages are considered standards for use in page designing such as newsletters and other print materials, and website design.

Asked what are the advantages of learning the said software, Mendoza said: “The cooperatives used to outsource computer services and it would cost them a fortune to do that. Now that their staffmembers have undergone the seminars, they can design their own publications and maintain their own websites, which is definitely faster and more efficient.”

“It improves their services and lowers costs – ultimately leading to better profits,” Halos added

Cagayan de Oro, Cebu coops gain PC knowledge

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – NATCCO’s Information Technology and Training & Consultancy Departments conducted a seminar on Hardware and Software Troubleshooting, Maintenance, and Networking last June 4 to 5 at the Pearlmont Hotel.

This is in line with NATCCO’s thrust to equip cooperative leaders, members and staff with know-how in information technology.

Among the topics was Hardware and Software Maintenance, where students were briefed on how to make their units last longer and work better.

Under Maintaining your Personal Computer Virus-Free, participants learned how viruses can destroy files in the hard disk and learn how to prevent this from happening. The spreading of computer viruses is a real threat to a company’s operations. Viruses are programs that instruct computers to delete or destroy the operating systems, software, or files stored in a computer’s memory or hard disk. Data loss can cripple a cooperative’s operations and, thus, lead to profit loss.

I.T. Department equips coops with PC know-how

NATCCO’s Information Technology Department conducted a seminar on Hardware and Software Troubleshooting, Maintenance, and Networking on February 19 and 20. This is in line with NATCCO’s thrust to equip cooperative leaders, members and staff with know-how in information technology.

Among the topics was Hardware and Software Maintenance, where students were briefed on how to make their units last longer and work better.

Under Maintaining your Personal Computer Virus-Free, participants learned how viruses can destroy files in the hard disk and learn how to prevent this from happening. The spreading of computer viruses is a real threat to a company’s operations. Viruses are programs that instruct computers to delete or destroy the operating systems, software, or files stored in a computer’s memory or hard disk. Data loss can cripple a cooperative’s operations and, thus, lead to profit loss.

In Building up and Maximizing your PC, participants were shown how to tailor or assemble a PC by choosing the parts according to the user’s needs.

Then under Operating System Installation and Formatting with Topics on Back-Up and Upgrade, once a PC is assembled, the next step would be to set up the Operating System, and afterwards upgrading the storage capacity and speed performance of a PC.

Twenty-five representatives from various cooperatives around the country attended the seminar.

A co-op website… in 5 days!!!

Wouldn’t it be great if we could build co-op websites in less than a week? Upload news items, pictures and even start a forum in five days even less. Do all these with just minimal or no IT background. Kidding??? No way!!! Good thing there’s CMS or CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM. Compared to “static” normal website development which takes up to 1 to 3 months to create and upload a website, with CMS all these and more could be done in less than a week. Nice??? I think it rocks!!!

Co-ops do better with IT by Cecil Abis

Staff of co-operatives from Indonesia, Thailand, and Philippines who were trained as Information Technology (IT) Specialists by the "Information Technology for Southeast Asian Co-operatives (it@coops) Project" gathered together for the "Regional Forum on it@coops: Empowering Co-operatives through Information Technology" held November 19-21, 2007, Antipolo City. The Project is implemented from 2004-2007 in co-ops affiliated to national co-op federations in the three countries, including the Philippines's National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO). The Project is a partnership of the Asian Women in Co-operative Development Forum (AWCF), a resource center and advocacy body on gender and co-ops in Asia, and the InWEnt (Capacity Building International, Germany), with support from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Guests at the opening ceremonies of the conference included Ms Lecira Juarez, Chairperson of the Philippines's Cooperative Development Authority (CDA); Mr. Niel Santillan, CDA Executive Director; Dr. Ute Huebner, Representative of InWEnt, Manila; Mr. Pit Heltmann, Deputy Head of Mission, German Embassy, Manila; and Mr. Mahudin, First Secretary, Economic Affairs, Indonesian Embassy, Manila. The Antipolo forum also sought to inspire more co-ops to use IT to improve competitiveness, to enhance operations and engagement in entrepreneurial work, and to set up IT-based business development centers (BDCs). The BDCs give services to co-op members who may be entrepreneurs, including co-op women members who may have difficulty accessing business services.