The National Nutrition Council Region IX (NNC9) successfully held the 1-day live-in Training on the Development of Key Nutrition Messages using Digital Media in the Provinces of Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Norte, and Zamboanga del Sur on February 23, 2022. The aforementioned activity aims to capacitate the participants on how to improve their presentation skills in order to promote better and wider information dissemination and advocacies on nutrition using the digital platform. A total of sixty-five (65) participants from face-to-face and via the Google Meet virtual platform was recorded. Among these is the presence of the NNC9 regional staff, P/C/Municipal Nutrition Action Officers, Local Nutrition Program Coordinators, and other local nutrition program implementers. The activity was conducted with the special participation of Mr. Genrev A. Esguerra, Nutrition Officer II of the National Nutrition Council Nutrition Information and Education Division who shared his invaluable expertise as a Resource Speaker during the conduct of the training.
During the activity, Mr. Esguerra presented a short overview of the National Nutrition Council, Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN), nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive programs, different multimedia programs of NNC, as well as the tips on effective social media messaging. He also shared the result of the Recall Survey on Nutrition Messages pointing out that the top 3 sources of information on nutrition are the television, internet/social media, and health center/worker. Likewise, he imparted that over 73 million Filipinos are active social media users since this platform offers wide accessibility across geographical barriers while being cost-effective.
The NNC’s Social and Behavior Change Communication Plan on ECCD F1K aims to develop specific key messages and identify appropriate communication channels to achieve the desired behavior change. In response to the need to strengthen a holistic community-based intervention through nutrition education and promotion for behavior change, the National Nutrition Council has developed several programs that will help to improve and enhance the knowledge and practices of mothers and caregivers on nutrition and ECCD services in the first 1000 days. NNC has also developed various creative materials in the form of infographics, videos, and social media cards under the campaign with paid ads/ad implementation to ensure wide reach.
Indeed, the use of digital media encourages discovery and broadens the horizons of your audience. Using varied digital platforms can help your target audience in developing their interests and discovering new things, facts, and ideas. As the lead agency on the digital campaign for various nutrition programs such as the First 1,000 Days, the National Nutrition Council will continuously conduct capacity building activities like this and provide the Local Nutrition Workers technical assistance to further capacitate them on how to be creative on their presentation, which is critical in promoting better and wider coverage of information dissemination and advocacy on nutrition using digital media. This effort is geared towards Making Nutrition #Trending.
PNFP Rowence F. Zorilla, RND
PNFP Marie-Claire Gaas, RND
