Focusing on improving its human capital, Cagayan de Oro City earned golden results as the City invested and prioritized the nutrition program. The City of Golden Friendship was hailed as the most outstanding city in the Region, thus the recipient of the Regional Green Banner Award.

The City prides itself for its effective people-centered nutrition programs which translated to decreased prevalence of malnutrition, specifically stunting among children below 5 years old from 6.5% in 2016 to 2.7% in 2018. This was made possible through its active multi-sectoral City Nutrition Committee (CNC) chaired by Mayor Oscar S. Moreno, coupled with a City Nutrition Office with full manpower complement. City Nutrition Action Officer Nenita F. Rabe has seven (7) City Nutrition Program Coordinators overseeing 80 rural and urban barangays, one (1) focal person on DOH nutrition programs and two (2) IT staff.

Investing in the First 1000 Days is one of Cagayan de Oro’s strategies to achieve better nutrition outcomes. The City Health Office provides free laboratory services for pregnant women as one of their interventions. Moreover, a total of 35 Breastfeeding Support Groups were organized with more than 600 IYCF peer counselors to guarantee optimum nutrition for infants and to continuously advocate proper feeding for infants and young children. World Vision, a member of the CNC, complemented the manpower with IEC materials such as IYCF kits, counselling cards, t-shirt and bags.

School children likewise receive nutrition interventions through the Central School Kitchen by the Gawad Kalinga in partnership with the LGU, City Local School Board and the Department of Education. The initiative facilitates the preparation and delivery of healthy meals to several schools.

Strong nutrition promotion and education is evident in CDO. Aside from IYCF IEC materials, Pinggang Pinoy, recipe books, ECCD cards, leaflets and booklets are also distributed to health workers. CNO personnel are active in promoting good nutrition by guesting in various local radio and TV stations, and in constantly updating their social media page.

The City is also known for its Urban Container Household Garden, covering 44 barangays to improve and promote food security where undernourished children of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) are priority targets of the project.

Livelihood projects, skills training, financial assistance and material support were given to nutritionally depressed families such as the following:

• Wish Ko Lang - a livelihood initiative by providing food carts and financial assistance as capital to families with severely underweight preschool children

• Livelihood Financial Assistance to Kahugpungan sa Komunidad alang sa Panginabuhian – Former Rebels (KKP) Consumer Store with eighty (80) former rebels as beneficiaries.

• Vegetable production livelihood program, dressmaking and tailoring project for women and Indigenous Peoples, Adlai rice production for farmers and distribution of food carts to entrepreneurs

Nutrition Office personnel conduct constant technical capacity building activities for health workers, Barangay Nutrition Committees, ranging from IYCF trainings, BNC orientations, to training the BNSs on how to document and write minutes of the meeting.

To guarantee that all the efforts on nutrition in the city are replicated and implemented in the barangays with the same intensity, city nutrition workers make sure that all barangay nutrition committees headed by Punong Barangays or Kagawads are fully functional.

Cagayan de Oro City is one of the emerging nutrition performers in the Region as it bagged its third Regional Green Banner Award as the most outstanding city in Northern Mindanao, and eventually the Consistent Regional Outstanding Winner in Nutrition (CROWN) Award. Truly, investing in the nutrition and well-being of every Kagay-anon paid off as Cagayan de Oro City is CROWNed as a nutrition exemplar.