BUTUAN CITY- Local leaders in five municipalities of Siargao Island attended the first module of the Municipal Nutrition Governance Program (MNGP) conducted on February 1-3, 2023 at Traveller’s Inn Beach Resort, General Luna, Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte.

Under the AHON Siargao Capacity Enhancement Program (Project Cape), the MNGP program is being facilitated by the Zuellig Family Foundation in partnership with the Alumni Association of the Asian Institute of Management.

The program aims to improve the nutritional status and outcomes of pregnant women and children under two years old in the five identified municipalities, namely: Burgos, Pilar, San Isidro, Sta. Monica, and San Benito.

The first module of the three-day in-house learning session aims to increase the ability of the LGUs to create and support the local health and nutrition ecosystem with an emphasis on the First 1,000 days (F1KD) of children in their respective areas.

It further aims to develop the F1KD/Nutrition system and lower the prevalence of stunting and wasting in the identified enrolled municipalities. Primarily, the program specifically intends to increase the Nutrition Governance and Leadership competencies of Local Chief Executives and their Core Team.

The municipal leaders actively participated and spoke about their own experiences, shared the current nutrition status of their municipality, created, and conceptualized their visions and missions, deliberated their ideas on how to reduce the stunting and wasting incidences, and planned into action on what to do in their current reality. The training ended with the commitment of all the leaders to stop malnutrition in their respective areas.

As a process, the target municipalities will be coached and mentored to engage with the community and barangay leaders. Likewise, the team will be mobilized to ensure participation in nutrition and health advocacy and improvements in service delivery by building the capacities of health and nutrition workers and effectively providing nutrition-specific, nutrition-sensitive interventions and even enabling programs.#VCAAquino