Tagbilaran City – Spending almost two decades in service as a Barangay Nutrition Scholar (BNS) in her community in Barangay Bool, Tagbilaran City in the Province of Bohol, BNS Juanita R. Hinay or simply “Nenet” is not a stranger to the nutrition program. She has spent years as the president of the Tagbilaran City BNS Association on top of managing her barangay’s nutrition situation. Having started in 2003, she has not let the pandemic dampen her passion for nutrition and is instrumental in ensuring that her Barangay Nutrition Committee (BNC) continued to be active throughout the different levels of community quarantine.

Innovative and always on her toes, this is BNS Nenet’s 2nd stint for the Regional Outstanding BNS award, and deservingly so, as she has a well-maintained record-keeping system. She does not only meticulously document her BNC’s nutrition efforts and monitors its impact on the children in her barangay, but her documents are also very transparent, a testament to how resources are generated and utilized making her a cut above the rest.

To raise funds for the barangay’s nutrition program which often still finds itself wanting, BNS Hinay has started selling iodized salt and plastics (through the BNC Material Recovery Facility) as income generating project.

While BNS Nenet admits having faced more challenges in recent years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, she says “BNSs must always find ways (to deliver)”. And her efforts are not in vain as Brgy. Bool has maintained a 1% stunting rate from 2019 until 2022. // NGS