RCE Cebu - 2018

Strengthening a community-based nutrition supplementation
Basic Information
Title of project : 
Strengthening a community-based nutrition supplementation
Submitting RCE: 
RCE Cebu
Contributing organization(s) : 
Matias H. Aznar Memorial College of Medicine, Mandaue City College and Cebu Academe Network
Focal point(s) and affiliation(s)
Name: 
Jarvis Prochina, Community Extension Director
Organizational Affiliation: 
MHAM College of Medicine
E-mail: 
jprochina@yahoo.com
Name: 
Huberto Zanoria, Program Coordinator- Social Work
Organizational Affiliation: 
Mandaue City College
E-mail: 
hubertozanoria@gmail.com
Format of project: 
powerpoint
Language of project: 
English
Date of submission:
Saturday, June 30, 2018
Does this project link to any education and/or sustainable development policy or policies?: 
Yes
This is a component of the overall regional nutrition campaign of local Government Units and non-government organizations
At what level is the policy operating?: 
Subnational
Geographical & Education Information
Region: 
Asia-Pacific
Country: 
Philippines
Location(s): 
Cebu Province and Metro Cebu
Address of focal point institution for project: 
Matias H. Aznar Memorial College of Medicine, Redemptorist Road, Cebu City
Ecosystem(s):
Agricultural, Urban/Peri-urban
Target Audience:
Community, Higher, Primary
Socioeconomic and environmental characteristics of the area : 
Central Visayas is strategically located in the central part of the country where goods are distributed to nearby provinces , with a strong service sector due to Metro Cebu’s development and increasing number of relocators of Business process outsourcing companies. On the other hand , this is also the reason for increasing in-migration from underdeveloped provinces and regions..It is not agriculturally endowed and is dependent of other regions for basic commodities, vegetables and fruits. The latest national data on nutrition showed Central Visayas region has a high prevalence rate of 5 -6 % of children under nourishment among children and a disturbing disparity between those who benefited from economic activities in the urban center.
Environmentally, the region also faced problems on land conversion, unsustainable use of sloping and upland areas and over-exploitation of its marine resources. Cebu, its centerpiece has less than one ( 1 ) percent forest cover and high erosion rate.
Description of sustainable development challenge(s) in the area the project addresses: 
These are the challenges facing the region within the next 10 years:
1. Water demand due to increasing population.
2. Salt water intrusion into the aquifer .
3. Unabated forest cover destruction and conversion of sloping and upland areas for residential and commercial purposes.
4. Decreasing productivity and high rate of erosion of agricultural lands
5. Decreasing fish catch of coastal and inland waters. and
6. Increasing unemployment and underemployment in metropolitan centers.
Contents
Status: 
Ongoing
Period: 
January, 2012 to July, 2018
Rationale: 
Nutrition initiatives are undertaken through its regional and local councils with communities expected to anchor IEC drives, mobilize its village nutrition volunteers and allocate roughly around 10 % of its budgets. It is also mainstreamed in public school system through the integration of nutrition education in primary and secondary school subjects.
Objectives: 
1. To capacitate mothers of undernourished children to prepare nutritious through training, food preparation and group learning
2. To strengthen regional, provincial and local nutrition councils
3. To set-up participatory monitoring and evaluation system in these councils as well as in community-level initiatives
4. To draw in /mobilize local government units in actively participating in nutrition-related activities.
Activities and/or practices employed: 
At the community level, an innovative project was initiated through “ Lusog-Busog-Talino” ( physical and mental health ) wherein parents of undernourished children are trained to identify, prepare and serve lunch breaks for their children . They are also expected to link with public markets where they purchased nutritious vegetables and fruits. In the process, informal IEC sessions are conducted through daily and regular reflection sessions. It was envisioned that things learned in these sessions are used in their family’s meal preparation.

This is coupled with strengthening the provincial and regional nutrition councils of Local government units from the regional down the village ( barangay levels. “Village nutrition scholar-volunteers are also mobilized to provide technical assistance to health personnel and identify families with under-nourished children.

Replication of the “ Busog-Lusog-Talino “ scheme in other primary schools in metro Cebu area is done through the Jollibee Foundation ( the CSR arm of Jolibee Food Corporation ). Through the setting up of a clustered “food preparation, resources are marshalled/mobilized. Private corporations, local government units and non-governmental organizations are primary partners in this expanded program.
Size of academic audience: 
1. Regionwide over two thousand primary school children and their parents for Lusog-Busog-Talino 2. Teachers of these students are also involved. 3. Roughly around fifty nutrition councils with around twenty members each.
Results: 
1. In the pilot areas of Busog-Lusog Talino there were marked improvement of the nutritional status of targeted children.
2. Delineation of responsibilities among partners ( LGUs, NGOs and parent-volunteers ) done in all nutrition councils in the region.
3. Replication of “ Busog-Lusog Talino “ in primary schools within the region.
4. A participatory monitoring and evaluation system was also set-up in these councils.
Lessons learned: 
i. Teachers/principals as models
ii. Simplified organizational set-up at the community levels facilitated the formation and strengthening the moths’ groups.
iii. Advocacy and support from LGUs, Businesses and NGOs propelled the groups
iv. Nutrition-Dietetics Association of the Philippines- Cebu Chapter as anchor;
v. Support at then LGUs council levels
Key messages: 
1. Health of the children will determine the future of the nation
2. Changes agents at the forefront in effecting changes in all levels of nutrition education
3. Complementation and collaboration as key words for the project’s success.
Relationship to other RCE activities: 
Partnership of some RCE member schools and cooperating local government units
Funding: 
LGUs, the cooperating HEIs/ schools and Nutrition-Dietetics Association of the Philippines.
Update: 
No