The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) is developing the capability and confidence of foreign service personnel to manage and conserve government properties. This end-goal guided the Institute’s Training Team in developing and offering the Property Officers’ Course (POC) conducted from 03 to 07 August 2020.

Twenty-seven (27) personnel of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) assigned and/or identified to assume the duties and responsibilities of a Property Officer in the Home Office and at Post participated in the training.

The Course was designed to address the need of the Department’s Property Officers for capacity building and skills enhancement in managing government properties consistent with statutory requirements.

As the government agency primarily responsible for managing the country’s foreign affairs, the DFA needs a highly capable team of officers and staff who can efficiently manage government properties even at Post to optimize the properties’ services and meet the clients’ needs and demands.

The Course familiarized Property Officers with the general rules and regulations on the system for managing government property, techniques for property management, and management competency for the effective and efficient operation of the Department.

The implementation and conversion of the Property Officers’ Course from the traditional face-to-face learning into 100% digital learning encountered some challenges. Nevertheless, the adaptability, flexibility, and receptiveness of the E-Learning Team made the Course’s 100% shift to online learning manageable.

Amid the quarantine restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the online Course gave an opportunity to participants who are currently assigned in Consular Offices (COs) throughout the country to join the sessions in real time through Google Meet: Participants were from the DFA’s COs in Antipolo, Bacolod, Baguio, Cebu, Clarin, Dasmarinas, General Santos City, La Union, Mindanao, Pampanga, Puerto Princesa, Santiago, San Pablo, Tacloban, Tagum, and Zamboanga.

The Property Officers’ Course was the second offering of the Institute’s Functional and Transition Programs Section on online learning modality to support FSI’s Strategic Goals.