(Taguig City, 19 June 2018) – Representatives of priority cities and municipality in Metro Manila for the Shepherding Project were convened in a meeting at the NNC Central Office in Taguig City on 19 June 2019. Also present at the meeting were members of the Regional Nutrition Management Group (RNMG). During the meeting, the cities of Paranaque, San Juan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela and the municipality of Pateros expressed their commitment to the project.
In 2012, the Regional Nutrition Committee of the National Capital Region (RNC-NCR) implemented the Shepherding Project to assist LGUs in improving their nutrition program management resulting to improved nutrition situation. The NNC-NCR technical staff and selected members of the RNMG act as “shepherds’ or mentors and conduct more frequent monitoring visits to the priority LGUs.
Initially, the priority areas for the project are the cities of Navotas, San Juan, and the municipality of Pateros. In 2016, Parañaque City requested that they be included in the project. In 2017, the CAMANAVA areas were identified by the NNC as priority areas for the LGU Mobilization Initiatives for the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN 2017-2022). As such, the cities of Caloocan, Malabon, and Valenzuela were added to the priority LGUs that will be mentored and assisted technically by the RNC and NNC-NCR.
During the meeting, all the LGUs represented were unanimous in saying that the Shepherding Project is a good strategy of the RNC and NNC-NCR in helping them improve the planning and management of their local PPAN implementation. Results of the project show that many of the priority LGUs showed increased Operation Timbang Plus coverage, reduction in malnutrition rates and improved functionality of local nutrition committees. The support of local chief executives and nutrition action officers became more evident. Barangay Nutrition Scholars were provided more trainings, logistic support and recognition. Some of the LGUs hired additional nutritionist-dietitians and BNSs to scale up coverage of services. Also notable was the improvement of the performance of the LGUs being mentored in nutrition program management that enabled them to receive awards of recognition during the yearly Regional Nutrition Awarding Ceremonies (RNAC).
However, there are also challenges in the implementation of the shepherding project. The involvement of the members of the RNMG as ‘shepherds’ was not regular due to their work load in their offices, some nutrition workers showed “resistance to change”, and difficulty in convening the meeting with the members of the local nutrition committees due to conflict of schedules.
Recognizing all these challenges, the LGUs committed to find ways to make the shepherding project successful in making their local nutrition committees functional and strive to continuously improve their nutrition situation. (NPC MEVF/ELF)
