Presenting to City Hall

When I first arrived in Puerto, my work plan suggested selecting two barangays for product selection, as well as several seminars, a database, and a website among other things. This is about a years work for several people, and things here move at half speed. It took me several weeks just to get a reasonably clear picture of what was on offer, and I still don't have the whole picture. As the city doesn't really have any active method for hunting down products, or any official method of certification, I began to feel time running short. There are 66 barangays in Puerto Princesa and many of them produce things. The city is at various stages of helping groups who have requested aid, and so I felt that I would do the most good by choosing someone who was ready for design help and begin there, which is how I ended up helping the Kasoy processors.

Beyond this, what Puerto Princesa needs, is a system of certifying or recognizing viable products which make these part of the city's promotional efforts, and then they have to actually promote them. I will soon be aiming to bring together various groups from the Agriculture and Planning offices, to the Tourism department, to the Department of Science and Technology (who are already working to diversify the cashew industry in Palawan) to the private sector. It would be wonderful to see them diversify their local product support by including agricultural and creative products under their stewardship, and this may take the form of advertising or simply information.

Going back a step, I presented my design ideas to Melissa, my contact in the city's Agriculture Department last Wednesday, along with some of her colleagues, and they seemed very excited. I am no professional by any means, but they are not used to concise design, and are apparently quite eager to see some of my ideas in use. So, I am now in the thick of things. With only 5 weeks to go, I'm not sure what I've done with the time. I want to see a package design finished and ready before I leave. I would like to see some kind of stamp or logo for the city to use in identifying locally recognized products, and I would like to at least plant the seeds of some collaboration between local creatives, businesses and the city in terms of promoting these products as part of the city's image to visitors and locals alike. Only time will tell.