The Davao City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (CADAC) continues to strengthen its drug abuse prevention and education program by translating its Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials into various indigenous and local languages.
Jaffar Marohomsalic, CADAC officer-in-charge, said the IEC material is “a strategic framework used to promote awareness, knowledge and behavior change.”
Marohamsalic said that the material also aims to provide “holistic recovery programs and facility and the integration of drug reformees as product team members of the community.”
The IEC material includes several features of Republic Act 9165, its terminologies, and the operation manual of Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council or BADAC..
He added that they translated the EIC materials into the dialect used by tribes in Davao City to help them better understand the material and to accommodate the “specific needs of the different cultural groups” residing in the city.
“There are technical terms gyud nga medyo lisod jud siya sabton. So, it’s really important for us, nga the community would be able to, nga mas makasabot pa gyud sila (There are technical terms that are quite difficult to understand. So, it’s really important for us that the community would be able to really understand the material),” he said.
The culture-sensitive IEC materials have already been translated into Bagobo Klata, Obu Manuvu, Ata, Tausug, Maguindanaon, Sama-Dilaut (Badjao), Kagan, Matigsalug, Bagobo Tagabawa, and Iranun.
Mahomsalic also said they are now working on the translation of Maranao IEC material. CIO
