Philippines Flying Labs & She Maps Partner to Train Government Workers to Fly Drones

By Philippines Flying Labs

Creating awareness on how drones can help communities, volunteers from nonprofit organizations taught government employees from the Clark Development Corporation (CDC)  the basics of drone flying. 

The two-and-a-half-hour program taught employees from the External Affairs Department, Public Safety, Estate Preservation, and Recovery and Geographic Information System from the CDC.  The program included the basics of drone flying, including learning about safety regulations, manually flying a micro drone, and completing a survey mission for data gathering.

Philippines Flying Labs Country Director Dr. Heidi Sampang teaches the basics of drone flight to CDC employees. (Photo: Ric Gonzales)

The participants said that the program boosted their confidence in handling drones, and they wanted to pursue a more intensive training session to get certified in flying drones. They realized that drones can be incorporated into their workflow and projects and can further impact their communities. 

This training session was also special because it was taught by a freshly minted first cohort of the She Maps/Flying Labs Certified Educators. With their new knowledge taught by Dr. Karen Joyce and Paul Mead from She Maps, who flew in from Australia, the new instructors could lead the group in a very effective manner. 

Both students and instructors learned from each other during this short program.  And this collaboration proves that learning can happen both ways, leading to a more impactful program. 

Dr. Karen Joyce (last person from the right) with volunteer teachers during the “Fly A Drone” program held at a multi-purpose hall inside the Clark Skills and Training Center. (Photo: Provided by Heidi Sampang, Clark Development Corporation)

We want to thank She Maps for training six Philippines Flying Labs team members to be a part of the She Maps/Flying Labs Certified Educators. And we would like to thank the Clark Development Corporation's management team for allowing us to use their facilities during our training program. 

WeRobotics and She Maps will continue supporting Flying Labs with their youth engagement and training activities incentives over the coming months. We would like to thank participants from Jamaica, Kenya, Panama, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Senegal, South Pacific, Tanzania, and Uganda Flying Labs as well as the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s (DFAT) innovationXchange (iXc) for their financial support.