2 November 2020, Cagayan de Oro City – Eight (8) technical and administrative staff of National Nutrition Council X were trained on Completed Staff Work and Policy Paper Development facilitated by the National Economic and Development Authority X held 27-28 October 2020 via Google Meet.

The training was conducted to further enhance the efficiency of NNC X staff and overall organizational performance and to equip the staff on know-hows of drafting policies since NNC is mandated as the country’s policy-making body on nutrition.

Nutrition Program Coordinator Gladys Mae S. Fernandez of NNC X gave the Opening Message wherein she presented the rationale of the training. In her message, she enjoined her staff to learn comprehensively in the training while also enjoy the priviledge of being trained by seasoned NEDA personnel.

EnP Leonila G. Cajarte, OIC-Assistant Regional Director and Mr. Richardson T. Cua, Chief Economic Development Specialist, Policy Formulation and Planning Division of NEDA X trained the NNC X staff.

The two-day training jump-started with the discussion of the doctrine of the completed staff work (CSW) and staff attributes. OIC-ARD Cajarte emphasized that CSW cannot be learned overnight. CSW would require time and experience to learn by doing. A staff or action officer must always be a part of the solution, thus her quote about subordinates, “Walang karapatan magbigay ng problema sa boss.”

Mr. Cua discussed the functions and roles of secretariat. The training session was vital with NNC acting as secretariat to various nutrition structures, while also providing technical assistance to nutrition workers as secretariat to the local nutrition committees. Further, included in this session was the discussion on how to do meeting documentation effectively. Mr. Cua also discussed the basics on writing memoranda and resolutions. He emphasized that resolutions present the official position of an organized group.

Preparing policy briefs was also included in the training design. Policy briefs contain summary analysis of issues and policy options and recommendations, as highlighted by Mr. Cua. The NNC X staff learned of the parts of a policy brief and tips on how to write it.

To apply the learnings, the group was divided by two. Training outputs include summary and accomplished checklist on the policy brief on “Mobilizing local governments to prevent child stunting” from the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, draft memorandum on the policy recommendations, and draft Regional Nutrition Committee resolution based from the policy brief and a draft memo.

After the presentation of workshop outputs, the facilitators thoroughly critiqued and mentored the participants on how to further enhance the draft documents. Format, content, parallelism, and consistency were covered in the critiquing. Lastly, the resource persons and participants were awarded virtual certificates for the training. (NO III Sheena Marie G. Talle)