ESSC was invited last 3 to 4 November 2011 to present some of its experiences in applying geomatics technologies in resource management and governance in the developing context of the Philippines.

The seminar is itself part of a broader "stage" or semester of training which brings together mostly government technical and scientific personnel from over 12 French-speaking African countries including Haiti in the Caribbean. The aim of the stage is to provide the necessary tools to allow the trainees to implement GIS, particularly on free and open source software (FOSS), in their respective institutes to enhance their own work.

Andres Ignacio, with Françoise Orban of FUNDP University of Namur in Belgium, a partner of ESSC for over 15 years, presented their experiences in GIS-related initiatives in the Philippines. Françoise shared her experiences on Participatory GIS (PGIS) and developed through her many years of collaboration in the Philippines. Andres on the other hand shared experiences from ESSC's work engagement with the Allah Valley Landscape Development Alliance (AVLDA), particularly how technical and PGIS methods contributed to its ongoing management.

Andres was also requested by the organizers to spend another day to listen to and comment on the individual GIS projects developed by the trainees as part of their formation program. It was a great opportunity to learn from the concerns of the participants in relation to GIS such as data availability, accuracy, and quality. The trainees also greatly valued the deeper insights on GIS applications in the context of local government and communities. It was interesting to note that all shared similar problems and issues in their respective country settings, such that the comments from the Philippines turned out to be highly appropriate in the trainees' own contexts. The experience gave significant insights into the universality of geospatial technology issues and challenges in the developing world.

As the participants did not speak English, Andres was requested by the organizers to present in French and with the help of Françoise, the effort was greatly appreciated and valued by the organizers. There is great interest in investigating potential collaboration between ESSC and ULB in future work.