Asian Workshop for ANGOC NGO Network Managers on Internet technology held in Los Ba�os, Laguna, Philippines, February 1998

Twenty representatives from 14 NGO member networks participated last February in the Asian Workshop for NGO Network Managers held in Los Ba�os, Laguna, Philippines. the workshop aimed to provide the participants an overview of, and hands-on training in, Internet technology, particularly electronic mail (e-mail), and to help them plan for an Internet-based system of accessing and disseminating information within and outside the ANGOC network. This workshop was supported by the Southeast Asia Regional Canada Fund and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Ottawa, Canada. Ms. Maria Ng Lee Hoon, senior regional program officer at IDRC�s Asia Regional Office, attended the training.

Ernest Leung, president of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation, advocated broadening public access to information, particularly financial information to prepare the poor who are usually hardest hit by such crises as the recent financial turmoils in Asia.

Dave Ingles, former ANGOC deputy executive director, stressed the need for access to advocated broadening public access to information, particularly financial information information and how to manage its dissemination within and outside a network. He included this in his 14 Ps of Networking, Advocacy, Program Development, Capacity-Building and Management. Roberto Verzola, coordinator of Interdoc, examined the social implications of the Internet technology cautioning against its wholesale acceptance and the need to give it time to show its worth or drawbacks.

Yet, it is also a fact that a fax transmission today is about four times more expensive than the e-mail. At best, cost considerations, efficiency of speedy transmissions, and easier access to critical data via the e-mail/ Internet prove this info technology to be highly beneficial to NGOs for networking and routine communications. Fr. Francis Lucas reminds NGOs though to view �technology as simply an enabler�; it will only do what its user wants it to do. Nothing can match the camaraderie and personal affinity that comes with meeting people in real time over a cup of coffee than through a computer monitor.

The workshop proceedings were published into a book entitled, �Gearing Up for the Information Superhighway�. The publication was also made possible by the Southeast Asia Regional Canada Fund. [

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