The National Nutrition Council Region 1 (NNC1) successfully spearheaded the two-day online nutrition forum for local nutrition committees of Region I on 26 and 31 January 2023 thru zoom attended by more than a hundred Nutrition Action Officers (NAOs) and members of the Local Nutrition Committees (LNCs).

The said forum focused on the updated guidelines on the formulation of the Local Nutrition Action Plan (LNAP) and the conduct of this year’s Monitoring and Evaluation of Local Level Plan Implementation (MELLPI) Pro.

Mr. Kendall Gatan, Officer in Charge, and Ms. Wylibeth Lumpias, Development Management Officer II of NNC Region 1 served as the resource persons to the said topics.

Mr. Gatan stressed that the LNAP is a comprehensive plan integrating all actions of various local stakeholders and should be well packaged following prescribed format and anchored with the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition.

“The Annual Investment Plan for Nutrition is just a slice of the overall LNAP”, he added.

Ms. Lumpias provided a briefer on the list of reports that the LGUs need to submit to NNC and DILG. She emphasized the timeline of submission of the said nutrition reports and ardently request strict compliance of LGUs.

Also, Ms. Angel Sorano, Development Management Officer II of NNC Region 1, presented the key points of the newly issued DILG Memorandum Circular No. 2023-001 entitled "Implementation of the Halina't Magtanim ng Prutas at Gulay (HAPAG) sa Barangay Project," which aims to improve the capacity of barangays for sustainable agriculture initiatives.

Day 2 of the forum focused on MELLPI Pro orientation where Mr. Gatan presented the key features of the said M&E system.  

He urged all the LGUs to conduct the MELLPI Pro in their respective areas not only to identify performing LGUs and local nutrition focal points (LNFPs) but also an opportunity to provide mentoring to low performers.

Ms. Lumpias, further, gave a comprehensive discussion on the tools to be used in the conduct of MELLPI Pro, and gave a demo on how to use them including the presentation of evaluation schedules.

“We at NNC1 look forward for a full blast conduct of MELLPI Pro in the region with the Local Nutrition Committees taking the lead at the local level”, she concluded. 

By: Project Development Officer I Shamrock T. Bas-ilan