For every activity, project or program, a sound and feasible plan is the roadmap to successful implementation. As the saying goes ”Failing to plan is preparing to fail” thus, it is imperative that a plan should be geared on the salient aspects of the problem and not a generic or a “looks good on paper” plan. In the Bicol Region, OPT Plus 2022 results placed Catanduanes on its top spot in terms of stunting, third in underweight and 4th in wasting prevalence among the provinces. At least 4 of its 11 municipalities made it to the top 20 ranking in 3 out of 4 malnutrition indicators for children under five years old in the region.
As part of NNC ROV’s commitment in capacity building and LGU mobilization, a 2-day on site Local Nutrition Action Planning Workshop and Integration in the CDP, PDP, LDIP and AIP was conducted in Catanduanes for the members of the 11 LGU’s Local Nutrition Committees on August 30 and 31, 2022 at Queen Maricel Inn, Virac. Ms. Marilyn Valeza, the Officer in Charge of NNC ROV together with Ms. Jessa L. Encarnacion, LGOO II from the DILG Provincial Office were the resource persons for the workshop. Completing the training team and secretariat were the PNFP and DOH HRH Nutritionist Dietitians deployed in the province who provided technical assistance and helped facilitate the workshop.
The main objective of the workshop is to enhance the capacity of the LNC members with additional knowledge and skills in nutrition situation analysis, nutrition program planning and management, and advocating for nutrition in their respective LGUs and stakeholders, so that they may be able to effectively address the malnutrition problem in the community. By taking apart the roots of the problem, and analyzing their causes, the participants were able to determine their main problem and crafted their own plans to deal with it and eventually provide a solution. At the end of the workshop, a re-entry planning session was done to ready the participants and enable them to skillfully present and advocate to the other members of the committee their draft LNAP.
After the workshop, several LGUs including Virac, Panganiban, Baras, San Miguel and Bagamanoc conducted their BNAP Formulation Workshop applying the skills they had learned with technical assistance from NNC. The remaining LGUs also had their scheduled Barangay Nutrition Planning Workshops to be conducted before the end of this year. It is then with fervent hope that for 2023, through these capacity building activities, the nutrition situation in Catanduanes will slowly become clear and out of its bleak status with the concerted effort of the Province’s leaders and stakeholders.
PNFP JAS