15 March 2022, Cagayan de Oro City – The National Nutrition Council (NNC) X conducted the First 1000 Days (F1K) Virtual Forum for Punong Barangays of Northern Mindanao last 9 March 2022 held via Zoom platform. Almost 800 participants from local barangays and city/municipalities all over Region X joined the virtual gathering composed of Punong Barangays, members of the Barangay Council, Barangay Nutrition Scholars, and other health and nutrition workers.
The goal of the forum is to mobilize local government units (LGUs), particularly barangays led by their Punong Barangays, to advocate for programs and interventions related to the F1K. Government policies, plans, programs, projects, and activities in the community are primarily planned and implemented through barangays.
“In our fight against malnutrition, the barangay captains are closest to the barangay people, nobody knows better the condition of the barangay than the barangay captains,” said Dr. Jose R. Llacuna, Jr., Regional Director of the Department of Health Center for Health Development-Northern Mindanao (DOH CHD-NM) in his opening remarks.
The program proceeded with Vice Mayor Policarpo P. Murillo, IV, MD, of Valencia City, Bukidnon, as he discussed the first session of the forum entitled “Why LGUs should invest in the First 1000 Days” wherein he shared the importance of prioritizing the F1K programs and interventions in the local barangays and explained how it should be addressed in a multi-faceted approach to combat malnutrition.
In Session 2 on “Integrating Nutrition in Barangay Plans and Budgets”, it was presented by the Division Chief of the Department of the Interior and Local Government X’s Local Government Capability Development Division (DILG-LGCD), Ms. Hazel L. Occeña. She discussed and shared strategies on how to create barangay development plans and budgets as part of a multi-sectoral development plan, that includes nutrition integration.
Further, in Session 3 entitled “Making F1K Work: Good Practices of Barangays in implementing First 1000 Days Program,” Punong Barangays of Barangay Iponan, Cagayan de Oro City, Maximo Dondon C. Allorin and Albert Gabriel B. De Mesa of Barangay Kisolon, Sumilao, Bukidnon, both highlighted their barangays’ successful accomplishments and strategies in implementing the F1K in their community and how it helped the constituents in their respective barangays.
An Open Forum followed the activities. During the Open Forum, resource speakers accommodated all the queries from the participants and emphasized the importance of support and commitment of all Punong Barangays in prioritizing the F1K programs and nutrition interventions in their locality.
Thereafter, the activity concluded with the statements of support from Atty. Jose Joel P. Doromal, Municipal Mayor of Maramag, Bukidnon, Provincial Nutrition Action Officer of Misamis Occidental Marichu G. Tijing and Punong Barangay of Barangay Poblacion, Valencia City, Ana A. Rempohito.
Before ending the activity formally, NNC X’s Regional Nutrition Program Coordinator Gladys Mae S. Fernandez delivered her closing remarks to wrap up the activity. “We urge every barangay to institutionalize the First 1000 Days initiatives using the additional funds provided by local regulations following the Mandanas-Garcia Ruling. We should expand our nutrition coverage and track nutrition processes in the barangay, particularly the six interventions in the F1K,” she said.
NNC X is eternally grateful to all the participants all over Northern Mindanao who took part in the First 1000 Days activities to address the country’s malnutrition crisis and showed their support to nutrition improvement as a One Region in Nutrition. (PNFP Lizelle Bete)