The National Nutrition Council (NNC), Region VI Staff and NPC Nona Tad-y attended the Orientation Meeting and Consultative Workshop on Early Warning System on Food and Nutrition Security on January 28, 2015 in the Municipalities of Dumarao, Capiz and on January 29, 2015 at Jamindan, Capiz. Ten (10) municipalities in the region five (5) each from Capiz and Aklan were selected by FAO-UN and NNC to benefit the project, and the municipalities of Dumarao and Jamindan are two of these. This is a two-day activity in each municipality, January 27-28, 2015 in Dumarao and January 28-29, 2015 in Jamindan. It was conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations spearheaded by Dr. Demetria C. Bongga the Senior Food Security and Early Warning System Specialist and assisted by Ms. Cecil Pastores the Team Leader of the program. The participants included the local officials, employees and barangay workers including the BNSs and BHWs, Dr. Leah L. Del Rosario, Provincial Health Officer I and at the same time the Provincial Nutrition Action Officer of the province was also there to support the two municipalities. The objective of this activity is to adopt the Early Warning System for Food and Nutrition Security (EWS-FNS) as basis for local program planning for timely response to an impending food crisis in ten (10) Municipalities in Region VI.
Early Warning System is a form of monitoring and analysis of relevant information that may foretell a possible crisis such as food shortage or health problem. It is the regular and periodic collection of relevant data (e.g. food production, climate, food prices, etc.) to determine status of food supply and food security in the municipality. Also, it is the transforming collected data into useful information for appropriate action by decision-makers.The importance of EWS is very significant in addressing food insecurity and health problems that may arise in the community. It enables early forecasting to be made on the basis of current information trends, provide timely warning and interventions, identify affected households and vulnerable areas and allow government decisions concerning priorities and allocation of resources.
FAO choose the province of Capiz as one of the areas to adopt the EWS for the following reasons; 1) its vulnerability of the municipalities to impending disasters (e.g. being situated in the typhoon belt) 2) existing manpower capability to undertake regular data collection and 3) opportunity to establish an EWS in the municipality to safeguard against vulnerability.
During the meeting and consultative workshop, there is a briefing of the local officials on the background and activities to be undertaken to get their commitments to support the implementation of the EWS in the area. NNC give its full support to FAO-UN in this project, NNC RVI commit to assist and coordinate with them in future trainings and surveys to be conducted in the region.