TACLOBAN CITY - The barangays of Merida, Leyte had its initial Barangay Nutrition Action Planning (BNAP) workshop facilitated by Leyte Provincial Nutrition Office earlier in March of this year.

Through the initiative of Municipal Nutrition Action Officer Ernesto Pening, the 22 barangays of the municipality had a cleaning and polishing of their BNAP for 2 days. The workshop was held at Madison Hotel, Tacloban City.

The workshop was facilitated this time by National Nutrition Council 8 official and technical staff. It was attended by the Punong Barangays (PB), Barangay Secretary and Barangay Nutrition Scholars (BNSs).

As a start, the technical staff, introduced all the forms to be used in the workshop. After which a step-by-step workshop starting from profile of the barangay up to the problem tree analysis.

The training team did a one-on-one problem tree and took them half of the day. It commenced with the presentation and critiquing of the problem tree. After polishing the problem tree, the participants were given homework to the problem tree and its narrative in the situational analysis section of the BNAP.

A technical input on the programs, projects, and activities (PPAs) identification and prioritization. The PPAs were focused on four strategic thrusts namely: First 1000 Days, Philippine Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (PIMAM), Nutrition Sensitive Programs, and Enabling Program including nutrition in emergencies.

The training team and the MNAO together with participants agreed that at the end of the workshop will be the submission of final output placed in a long folder. On the night of the second day was the “ceremonial” printing of the finalized BNAP.

Moreover, on the third day, a ceremonial submission of the BNAP to the MNAO was done. The BNAP will cover the year 2022-2025.

This is one-of-a-kind workshops when final output was submitted to the MNAO.

Meanwhile, in his closing message, RNPC Dr. Catalino P. Dotollo, Jr., thanked Mayor Rolando M. Villasencio, PB, Barangay Secretary and BNSs for painstakingly participated in the workshop and the completion of output.

He stressed that the challenges lie on the implementation of the plan. The final output will be submitted to Mayor Villasencio. #RNPC-CPD