The National Nutrition Council of the National Capital Region conducted a Policy Review and Workshop on the Formulation of the Regional Plan of Action for Nutrition (RPAN) 2017-2022 at Azalea Hotels and Residences, Baguio City on November 21-25, 2016. The activity facilitated by NNC-NCR Regional Nutrition Program Coordinator (RNPC) Milagros Elisa Federizo and assisted by Nutrition Officers Meren Francia and Bea Menorca, was attended by nine (9) Regional Nutrition Management Group members from the following agencies: Department of Social Welfare and Development-NCR, Philippine Information Office-NCR, Department of Education-NCR, Grace Family Helper Project, Rural Improvement Clubs of the Philippines, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Nutrition Center of the Philippines, Department of Agriculture-IVA and NCR, and Nutrition Foundation of the Philippines. The RNMG is the technical arm of the Regional Nutrition Committee.
Among the functions of the Regional Nutrition Committee (RNC) is to formulate policies through resolutions in support of the implementation of the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition in the region and to formulate its RPAN. The resolutions passed by the RNC need to be reviewed every three (3) years to assess if the objectives were achieved, document learnings gained, and provide recommendations on the challenges/issues in implementation.
Seven (7) RNC Resolutions approved in CY 2013 were evaluated in terms of necessity, efficiency, validity, merit, worth and utility based on the data gathered from the client feedback, focus group discussions, key informant interviews and validation visits, which were as follows:
- Resolution No. 1: Enjoining All Schools Boards to Allocate Funds for the Purchase of Detecto/Beam Balance Weighing Scale to Enusre that All Public and Private Elementary and Secondary Schools in NCR will have at Least One Unit of Detecto/Beam Balance Weighing Scale;
- Resolution No. 2: Enjoining All Local Government Units to Set-Up and Maintain Lactation Station, Human Milk Banks/Storage Facilities;
- Resolution No. 3: Enjoining all local government units (LGUs) to provide functional height boards to all barangays in support of the Operation Timbang plus (OPT+);
- Resolution No. 4: Enjoining all local government units to strengthen their barangay nutrition scholar program (BNSP) by deploying and providing incentives, training, mentoring and supervision to all Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNS);
- Resolution No. 5: Enjoining All Local Government Units to Adopt and Comply with the National Nutrition Council Governing Board Policy on Nutrition in Emergencies and Organize a Nutrition Cluster;
- Resolution No. 6: Enjoining all LGUs in the NCR to adopt and support the promotion of the NGF; and
- Resolution No. 7: Enjoining all LGUs to purchase adequate supply of iron supplements and intensify activities for the control and prevention of IDAs.
During the planning-workshop on the formulation of the RPAN 2017-2022, RNPC Federizo presented the draft PPAN 2017-2022 and the Regional Nutrition Situation was discussed by NO III Francia. The group also reviewed the Updated RNC Strategic Plan 2015-2016 as well as the RNC’s vision, mission and core values. A revised version of the RNC’s Vision and Mission was then crafted by the group.
Three (3) workshops were conducted to facilitate the formulation of the RPAN. In Workshop 1, the group had a Problem Tree analysis of the causes of underweight and stunting, wasting and overweight in the region. In Workshop 2, the participants identified their respective agencies’ contribution to the PPAN through their programs and projects, expected outputs and budget allocation for 2017 to 2022. In the third workshop, each participant identified the causes of malnutrition that their respective agencies’ programs and projects will help address.
The RNMG welcomed both the Policy Review and the RPAN planning-workshop as a good opportunity to find ways on how to better collaborate and converge programs and projects for improved nutrition outcomes.
(MABRM/MEVF/NNCNCR)
