The SDG Seminar 2 series, with the theme “Effective Tools in Presenting and Analyzing SDG Data Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic”, was done virtually on March 23-25, 2021 following the New Normal adopted by government agencies in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. It was attended by 120 Ilocos Region delegates, specifically from the provinces of Ilocos Norte and La Union. They were joined by representatives from the DILG and PSA Regional Office I, and Field Offices in Ilocos Norte and La Union.

PSRTI Executive Director Josefina V. Almeda, Ph.D., officially opened the conduct of the seminar and welcomed the participants. This was followed by the SDG Overview by Ms. Maria Praxedes R. Pena, Chief Statistical Specialist of the PSRTI Training Division. Afterwards, Mr. Christopher E. Mojica, Senior Statistical Specialist of the PSRTI Training Division, gave an introduction to Basic Concepts in Statistics and discussed the Textual and Tabular Presentation of Data.

For the second day, Mr. Brad Earvin T. Zuñiga, Statistical Analyst of the PSRTI Training Division, continued the discussion of Effective Presentation of Data with a lecture on the Graphical Presentation. In the afternoon, a hands-on demonstration on selected graphs using MS Excel was given by Mr. Jose Pedro E. Cuartero, Project Development Officer, also of the PSRTI Training Division.

The third day of the seminar was allocated for the lectures on Descriptive Statistics given by Ms. Jazel Ann G. Ramos, Statistical Specialist I, of the PSRTI Training Division. Ms. Ramos likewise gave a short hands-on demonstration for computing Descriptive Statistics using MS Excel.

For the closing program, Ms. Norcelie Rivera Jucutan of the Provincial Government of La Union, Mr. Rod Jerick R. Ribao of LGU San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte, and Mr. Michael John F. Borja of DILG La Union gave their impressions on the general organization of the training program, the resource persons, Zoom as a platform, the topics, and the training team. Afterwards, the seminar was formally closed by the DILG Regional Office I, Regional Director James F. Fadrilan, CESO III.

Participants found the seminar useful for their line of work and greatly appreciated the “systematic” and “comprehensive” discussion of all topics. One testimonial stated that “The training program is very comprehensive and it discussed almost all the details which makes it very useful for us in performing our functions. Thank you very much!” while another added, “Congratulations for conducting a very informative yet fun training. We will surely apply and share our newly acquired skills and knowledge. Thank you PSRTI.”

The SDG Seminar 2: Effective Tools in Presenting and Analyzing SDG Data Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic is the follow-through activity from the 2017-2019 SDG Seminar I series. For the year 2021, PSRTI aims to cover the remaining 15 regions in the country in order to capacitate the City and Municipal Planning and Development Officers of LGUs, nationwide, on the tools in presenting and analyzing SDG data.