7 July 2020, Cagayan de Oro City – Despite all the circumstances that COVID-19 pandemic brought, the National Nutrition Council Region 10 paved the way to conduct the Initial Orientation/Meeting on Early Childhood Care and Development-First 1000 Days (ECCD-F1K) Program virtually, via Google Meet last 7 July 2020. The half-day orientation was joined by fourteen (14) participants composed of Nutrition Action Officers and their technical staff from Bukidnon Province and its eight (8) identified Local Government Units (LGUs) who will receive the said program. Recipient LGUs include: Cities of Malaybalay and Valencia, and Municipalities of Kadingilan, Kibawe, Libona, Manolo Fortich, Quezon, and Sumilao.
The orientation was facilitated by NPC Gladys Mae S. Fernandez and ECCD-F1K Provincial Nutrition Coordinator (PNC) Stephanie C. Barrio. To holistically orient the recipient LGUs of the program’s background, objectives, components, operational details, and the LGU’s expected support and output, Ms. Dianne Kristine Cornejo, Nutrition Officer III of the Nutrition Policy and Planning Division of NNC Central Office was invited as Resource Person. Other topics such as social preparation activities and the ECCD-F1K budgetary provisions for Bukidnon Province and sample work and financial plan were discussed by NPC Fernandez and PNC Barrio, respectively.
The ECCD-F1K Program of the NNC operationalizes the Republic Act 11148 or the “Kalusugan at Nutrisyon ng Mag-Nanay Act” which focuses on the intensification of both the national and local health and nutrition programs intended to address malnutrition problems among the most nutritionally at-risk individuals such as pregnant and lactating women, adolescent girls and infants and young children in their first 1,000 days. In the context of COVID-19 pandemic, ECCD-F1K Program will also serve as a nutrition intervention to the aforementioned vulnerable groups.
This year, Bukidnon Province was chosen as an expansion area of ECCD-F1K Program being one of the focus provinces of the Human Development and Poverty Reduction Cluster (HDPRC) due to its high rates of stunting, teenage pregnancy, and poverty incidence. Recipient LGUs were identified by considering their prevalence on stunting, wasting and low birth weight, number of pregnant women, and the LGU’s support and funding for nutrition programs.
This initial orientation/meeting aims to give preliminary information to the focal persons of the recipient LGUs, particularly the NAOs so they will be acquainted with the program’s overall goal of nourishing the First 1000 Days of a child’s life as a strategic thrust of the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN) 2017-2022, which aims to decrease the prevalence of malnutrition, including stunting, a form of chronic malnutrition. The activity also introduced the program components that the identified LGUs will be receiving which are the Dietary Supplementation Program and Home Food Production Program given to identified pregnant women and their household. Moreover, the activity also aims to set schedules and reach agreements from the recipient LGU’s end, particularly on setting schedules for the orientation of their Local Nutrition Committee (LNC) members and in preparing necessary documents needed before and during the conduct of the program.
PNC Barrio and NPC Fernandez are set to visit all recipient LGUs starting 14 July until first week of August 2020 to orient the LNC members from the Provincial down to the City and Municipal levels. The program is expected to commence on August 2020, after the LGUs’ signing of the Memorandum of Agreement.
Taking this first step of orientation will go a long way in reaching ECCD-F1K Program’s goal of eradicating malnutrition amid COVID-19 pandemic. NNC X, through the orientation conducted expects a supportive, and more coordinated and organized response from the recipient LGUs as partners in championing the First 1000 Days of life. (PNC Stephanie C. Barrio)
