KORONADAL CITY-NNC XII spearheads Regional NGO Forum on Jan 18, 2018 held at The Farm, Carpenter Hill, Koronadal City. The activity was participated by 37 individuals from RNC members, Provincial and City Nutrition Action Officers and eight (8) existing NGOs around the region such as the Save the Children, Samaritan’s Purse, World vision, Alcantara Foundation, Muslim Youth Religious Organization, Inc. (MYROi), Mindanao Organization for Social and Economic Progress (MOSEP), The Moropreneur, Inc, Energy Development Corporation (EDC). Also present in the activity was Dr. Amado Parawan, Health and Nutrition Advisor of Save the Children and member of NNC governing board, who also served as the guest and moderator of the forum.
Dr. Nikki Regine Pader, representing DOH XII Regional Director, Dr. Aristides C. Tan, said in her opening message that DOH XII is willing to support and augment some logistics to realize the nutrition programs and activities of LGUs for the attainment of the goals and objectives of PPAN 2017-2022. Consequently, she shared that DOH XII hired 38 Registered Nutritionist-Dietitians and need to hire more to complete the 50 NDs to be deployed in all municipalities and cities in the region which will help in the nutrition programs and activities of the LGU’s.
In order to streamline services and generate efficiency of Government programs and projects, NNC have looked increasingly through NGO partners at the regional level to ensure delivery of services to the public especially the Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDA) and the communities of Indigenous peoples. NGOs are also among the many stakeholders to work towards the achievement of PPAN 2017-2022. Thus, partnership with NGOs will help build roads to reach the community, in the light of movement towards wider collaboration to achieve national health/nutrition goals.
Highlights of the activity include the presentation of the Nutrition Situation in the Region, PPAN 2017-2022 video clip and the presentation of Nutrition-specific and sensitive programs where NGOs could collaborate and get involved with.
All NGOs also presented and shared their nutrition engagements through their initiatives, innovations and best practices in scaling up nutrition action. A by-table workshop was also conducted to identify what their organization can commit and how the commitment will be firmed up for strengthening GO-NGO partnership of achieving RPAN/PPAN targets. The NGO’s showed great interest in working with NNC and laid down their future plans in advancing and scaling up their nutrition programs to help achieve the PPAN targets. Moreover, the partner NGOs expressed their gratefulness to the initiative of having the NGO forum as it served as window of opportunity to address the gaps among their respective partner LGUs.
Dr. Parawan is looking forward for another NGO forum which he committed to fund the said activity. NPC Latonio expressed optimism in the partnership between LGU and NGOs expediting implementation and coordination of nutrition services in the country. (DPA/AMF/AML)
