The Technical Training Centre for Communication (Portuguese acronym CEFTEC), under the responsibility of the Secretariat of State of the Council of Ministers, finished the first module of their Communication Course – Written Press – with the delivery of the certificates during a lunch activity, on June 17th, in a Díli restaurant. Besides the 15 trainees who completed the module successfully, also participating in the event were the trainers, the CEFTEC representatives, the SoS of Council of Ministers and the SoS for Professional Training and Employment, and the President of the Civil Service Commission, which made the official handover of the certificates.

The Communication Course, in each of its training modules – Written Press (the first, which ended this June), Radio Techniques, Television Techniques, Computing and Multimedia – are certified by the National Association for Education Accreditation, with the National Certificate of Social Communication Studies Level III and Level IV.

The National Certificates of Media Studies – Level IV – have the guarantee of a quality education, through mechanisms developed by the IV Constitutional Government. The CEFTEC process of Teaching Accreditation is underway, in a joint partnership between INDMO (National Institute of Development of Labor Force), an autonomous institute within the jurisdiction of the Secretariat of State for Professional Training and Employment, and the Secretariat of State of the Council of Ministers (SECM).

The CEFTEC arises from the restructuring of the former Government Public Relations Training Centre (Portuguese acronym CFRPG), which started its activity in 2004, through a joint partnership between the Government and several international organizations. With this year’s restructuring, the Training Centre moved to the direct responsibility of the SECM, and its duties are to promote training activities for media professionals of the Civil Service.

The CEFTEC’s main objective is to improve communication – not only between ministries but also between the Government and civil society. The aim is a higher quality and effectiveness of information disseminated in the media at the national, regional and local levels. For that the improvement and qualification of the public servants working as Media Officers is developed, equipping them with current tools and techniques from the communication areas.

The Centre’s training activity is based on a Communication Course that involves training modules and theoretical and practical seminars. The Secretariat State of the Council of Ministers intends to provide, through CEFTEC, training in communication based on information and new technologies, using On the Job (practical training) methodologies for Communication Technicians from the Civil Service.