13 December 2021, Cagayan de Oro City – National Nutrition Council X organized the Media Advocates for Nutrition in Governance in Region 10 (MANGO DIEZ) third meeting and its first ever Virtual Planning Workshop last 10 December 2021. A total of 14 media partners attended the meeting, which was presided over by the Ad hoc Committee Chairperson, Ms. Jasper Marie O. Rucat, Information Officer II of Philippine Information Agency 10.
The workshop was held to identify the group's key actions in implementing the 2022 the Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) plan, as well as identify best practices from Local Government Units (LGUs), with focus on local nutrition promotion initiatives, and provide recommendations from the group on how to improve the promotion of good nutrition through various platforms in this pandemic.
As part of the meeting's opening remarks, Nutrition Program Coordinator Gladys Mae S. Fernandez welcomed the new members of the MANGO DIEZ: the DXMU-FM 88.9 attended by Mr. Reymlani P Sullera, Broadcast Program Producer Announcer II and Mr. Ardizon Arsua of Strong Radio 90.3 FM. Moreover, she invited the members to make suggestions and give inputs to the SBCC Plan 2022.
NPC Fernandez presented the first agenda, Introduction to NNC and MANGO DIEZ, followed by the presentation of Nutrition Officer (NO) I Vazamija Therese A. Villasi on the SBCC 2021 accomplishments and plans for 2022. She presented the plan, which includes airing of radio materials for 2022 Nutrition Month (NM) plugs, 10 Kumainments Nutrition School on-the-Air (NSOA), One Nutrition, One Nation (OnOn), and One Region in Nutrition (ORIN). NM activities for 2022 include publication of advertorial, conduct of press conference/briefing, airing of NM television infomercial and contest on Short Filmmaking. Furthermore, the reproduction of collateral materials such as flyers and posters will help in the advocacy to the target groups, including the vulnerable populations and to the Local Chief Executives (LCEs). Social media activities will continue, as well as the awarding of local government entities who effectively use the social media for nutrition promotion. Lastly, Nutri-clips for Senior Citizens (SCs) will also be introduced in 2022 to provide nutrition information for SCs.
NO II Arlie Joy O. Damiles discussed the regional nutrition situation, highlighting the Department of Science and Technology-Food and Nutrition Research Institute’s 2018 and 2019 Expanded National Nutrition Survey (ENNS) results, as well as the 2021 Operation Timbang (OPT) Plus results, which showed decrease in all indicators (underweight, stunting, wasting, and overweight/obesity) from 2018 to 2021.
LGUs of Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon and Cagayan de Oro City presented their best practices in promoting good nutrition as a basis of the planning workshop.
After which, NO I Villasi discussed the workshop mechanics which was on the assessment of LGUs initiatives and recommendations from the media partners.
The meeting was held to strengthen strategies to intensify nutrition promotion using various media platforms while also identifying the media partners' future steps, particularly during this pandemic. Workshop outputs will be disseminated to nutrition workers to serve as their reference in scaling-up nutrition advocacy efforts to target individuals and groups through various platforms. (NO I Vazamija Therese A. Villasi, RND)
