TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan, June 18 - - Members of the Balay ni Ifan Media group here shared best practices in the advocacy and promotion of good nutrition with the members of the Cordillera Administrative Region Media Educators on Nutrition (CARMENu) recently.
The Ifan media, already on its ninth year of operation, is recognized as the first media organization on nutrition in the country, established by the National Nutrition Council (NNC), Region 02 in 2009 as part of the government’s accelerated hunger mitigation program.
Ma. Gisela Lonzaga, nutrition program coordinator, said the local media has been a great partner of the NNC in educating the public on the best ways to achieve good nutrition among family members, especially children.
“The group became a pillar of the NNC in improving the nutritional status of the region as members played significant roles in encouraging every family to sustain healthy living,” Lonzaga said.
During the benchmarking activity, Teresa Campos, member of the Balay ni Ifan, presented the evolution of the organization, its accomplishments and partnership initiatives with other organizations and local government units.
On the other hand, Marilou Guieb, president of CARMENu, appreciated the openness of the Ifan members in sharing ideas on how to ensure sustainability of the organization and good relationship among members.
“We are being challenged on how to further improve our partnership endeavor with NNC. We are hopeful that with the ideas you shared with us, we could also saturate the promotion of nutrition programs and able to contribute to the attainment of good health and nutrition in our region,” Guieb said.
Included in the achievement of the Ifan group is the continuous airing of nutrition infomercials, trivia and other nutrition-related information; conduct of nutrition-related activities; publication of Ifan magazine; giving of technical assistance and support to LGUs and other organizations; conduct of monitoring of school canteens; and conduct of public fora on nutrition.
The organization will be celebrating its 10 years of existence in April next year. (JNLB/MGML/NNC-R02)
