The Regional Nutrition Committee (RNC) of the National Capital Region unanimously approved the request of the City of Marikina to be included as one of the priority areas of the Shepherding Project this 2018. The decision was made during the Joint Meeting of the RNC and Regional Nutrition Management Group (RNMG) held last September 21, 2018 at the Audio-Visual Room of PopCom-NCR in Mandaluyong City.

City Nutrition Action Officer (CNAO) Dr. Christy Sy requested the RNC to include Marikina City in the Shepherding Project. Marikina City will be joining the cities of Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela, San Juan, Parañaque and Municipality of Pateros as priority areas for the project.

The Shepherding Project is one of the strategies of the RNC of NCR in mentoring priority local government units (LGUs) in the region. It aims to assist LGUs in improving their nutrition program management resulting to improved nutrition situation, ensure that regular monitoring is provided to the LGUs and facilitate the dissemination of current issues and concerns on the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN) to the LGUs.

Marikina City was visited for the first time on October 11, 2018 by members of the RNMG composed of NNC-NCR Regional Nutrition Program Coordinator Ms. Milagros Elisa Federizo, Nutrition Officer II Theresa Rivas, Ms. Marlene Navarro of Grace Family Helper Project and Ms. Melissa de Mesa of Department of Social Welfare and Development – NCR.

During the visit, CNAO Sy together with the nutrition secretariat reviewed the MELLPI feedback provided by the regional nutrition evaluation team. It was identified that the city needs to strengthen their city nutrition committee and delineate the tasks and responsibilities of the members of the nutrition secretariat. Other recommendations given by the RNMG were: advocacy to the Mayor for the increased nutrition budget and improvement of the City Nutrition Action Plan (CNAP) in terms of target setting and packaging.

Members of the RNMG also had a courtesy visit with Ms. Joni Jocson, Executive Assistant of Mayor Teodoro. NPC Mila Federizo relayed to her the findings and recommendations based on the shepherding visit and hopes that the nutrition program will become a priority program of the city in order to have more budget allocation for the programs, projects and activities included in the CNAP.

CNAO Sy was provided with a copy of the findings and recommendations of the shepherding visit as reference to improve the functionality of their City Nutrition Committee and for the conduct of the planning workshop for their 2019 CNAP. (TAR/NPC MEVF/NNC-NCR)