Arrival Day: April 4, 2016

Select participants from different institutions and fields of work representing different regions of the Philippines started to arrive for the workshop. At around 5:30 pm, the participants were given the opportunity to meet their co-participants and organizers in a welcome dinner hosted by the organizers, the US Department of State – Biosecurity

Engagement Program (BEP), CRDF Global, and the Biological Risk Association Philippines (BRAP). During the program, the BRAP President Dr. Miguel Martin N. Moreno gave his welcome address, then introduced the participants and their institution, the BEP-CRDF Global representative Ms. Olga Chernysheva, and the resource person for the workshop Dr. Natasha Griffith.

Ms. Olga Chernysheva gave a message of support on behalf of the BEP-CRDF Global.

This was followed by the introduction of
the BRAP officers who were present that night. A sumptuous welcome dinner by the beach gastronomically ended our first day of the workshop in Cebu.

 

First day of the Workshop: April 5, 2016

Day 1 started at 9:00 am . Dr. Griffith discussed the global health security risks and a review of the basic concepts of biosafety, biosecurity, biorisk management, and how PRP works into it. She showed the overview structure of the PRP, where it plays an important role in helping address the health risks, and making the participants understand how “it” should be done.

The afternoon session was a workshop wherein the participants were grouped according to institution or field of work. They were made to make a presentation  based on their collective ideas on the challenges of hiring and the presence or absence of a PRP in their institutions, and their plans on how to address some of the problems they have uncovered in the hiring process.

Day 2 of the Workshop: April 6, 2016

The day started a little earlier, at 8:30 am, for the group pictorial beside the Costabella name and at the beachfront.

The workshop started again at 9:00 am with a brief recap of Day 1’s lecture and output, overview of the different components and groups of PRP followed by an introduction to the Personnel Suitability Assessment Panel. An exercise ensued wherein the participants once again grouped themselves accordingly and are made to present flowcharts on (a) procedures needed for the initial assessment, and (b) procedures

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needed for the ongoing assessment. They also crafted at least 10 interview questions that they think are essential and would aid in assessment of applicants. The presentation of the groups started before lunch and continued the whole afternoon. Dr. Griffith ended the day by showing the participants her own institution’s procedures for personnel assessment.

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Last Day of the Workshop: April 7, 2016

Dr. Griffith started the workshop with the importance of an emergency response program, how having it set up properly plays in its efficacy and the value of having the right, understandable, acceptable, and implementable standard operating procedure (SOP) for it. The participants were made aware that SOPs are not only about structures or plans but behavioral changes that must happen to the end users.  In short, PLANS + BEHAVIORS = SOP OUTCOMES. To demonstrate the learning of the participants, a fun-filled exercise was conducted where the participants were asked, by groups, to create an SOP for the same task, that is, folding and tearing a paper. The end result of the task was that each group created a different SOP from one another and the interpretation of representatives when given the oral instructions are no different. In the end, it simply demonstrated that SOPs, though dependent on the creator, are subject to personal interpretations.

The day ended with the awarding of certificates by the BEP-CRDF Global representative Miss Olga Chernysheva, the expert speaker Dr. Natasha Griffith, and the BRAP President Dr. Miguel Martin N. Moreno.

Lessons learned shall be brought home by each participant, in the hope that they will be able to apply it in their respective institutions and wishfully gather data for a possible presentation of the symposium’s outcomes in a local or international fora.

Thank You Very Much, BEP-CRDF Global!

BRAP is looking forward to doing more projects with you.