TACLOBAN CITY - Aimed at reducing the prevalence of stunting among children is the project goal of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) new project for Eastern Visayas’ integrated nutrition and Health Actions in the First 1,000 Days of Life: Improving lives of vulnerable children and women in Samar and Northern Samar.

The project started its consultative meet ups with the local government units and conducted planning workshops to understand the program on early childhood care development (ECCD) in the first 1000 days, project implementation and responsibilities, terms and reference and timelines of the project.

The first shot of the planning workshop was conducted for the Province of Samar on 13-14 October 2018 in Summit Hotel Tacloban City with Calbayog City Catbalogan City, Gandara, San Jose de Buan, Sta. Margarita, Tarangnan and Pagsangjan as participants of the activity. On the other hand, the Province of Northern Samar gathered on 15-16 October 2018 in Ciriaco Hotel, Calbayog City with the municipalities of Bobon, Ctaraman, Lope de Vega, Mondragon, San Jose, Mapanas, Lapinog and Gamay as participants of the workshop.

Shared understanding of the provincial and municipal contexts, gaps, and good practices on the implementation of the ECCD program was fleshed out during the workshop and agreements on timeline, roles and responsibilities, and implementation structures and mechanisms were made clear between the project implementer and project sites.

Aside from the Province of Samar and Northern Samar, the project will also cover the Province of Zamboanga del Norte in Region IX and will benefit about 120, 000 children under five years of age in 19 local government units and around 57,000 pregnant and lactating adolescent mothers. Likewise, the project will help enhance policy framework and service delivery system as well as enhance knowledge and attitude for health personnel working the LGUs. The project will run from 2018 to 2021.

The said planning workshop invited the local chief executives, legislative officers, health officers, planning officers, social welfare officers, agriculturists, the municipal, city, provincial and regional health staff, National Nutrition Council and facilitated in by the UNICEF staff and officers. #