Ms. Mayla Viray is currently SEARCA’s Training Specialist. As such, she is responsible in developing training programs, conceptualizing and packaging training materials, marketing and coordinating training courses and/or fora, and establishing networks and institutional linkages with local and international institutions.
Before joining SEARCA, she worked as a Microenterprise Development (MED) trainer at Chalmers Center for Economic Development, which is based in Atlanta, USA. As MED trainer, she organized and trained savings groups in depressed areas in the Philippines to help them alleviate their economic condition as well as promote unity and “bayanihan” among its members. She also served as assistant instructor in Chalmers’ distance learning class. Moreover, she served as a faculty member in one of the state universities in the Philippines. Similarly, she had been invited as resource speaker on communication related topics and had coordinated several training-workshops.
Aside from training and instruction, Ms. Viray had been involved in various fields of communication -- from print to production of video and interactive CD. She had served as managing editor cum writer in various publications dealing with agriculture and biotechnology including the PhilRice newsletter, which was awarded the 10th Gawad Oscar M. Florendo award during her term. She had published a number of articles related to agriculture, environment and biotechnology and had been involved in ethnovideography. In 2002, she participated in the Gardening for Food Around the World Program (GFAW) as Future Harvest Ambassador, where she received an “Applause-o-Gram” citation for exemplary performing her job as a member of the GFAW team. GFAW was held at Epcot Science Park, Walt Disney World, Orlando, USA and her participation was sponsored by the World Bank Institute.
Currently, she is pursuing her PhD in Community Development with Sociology as cognate at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), where she also obtained her BS and MS degrees in Development Communication with Nutrition and Environmental Science as cognates. She also took a non-degree course on Community Education at UPLB before joining SEARCA in 2005.
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MAYLA H. VIRAY
