DUMAGUETE City bagged the “Most Promising City” award during the 7th Regional Nutrition Action Officers Congress and 2011 Grand Nutrition Awards in Cebu City on Aug. 5.
The city was awarded for its best practices and innovative nutrition programs implemented in its barangays last year and the gradual drop in malnutrition rate for the past five years, said city nutrition officer Lourdes Taburaza.
Three of the city’s best practices that impressed the team of evaluators from the Regional Nutrition Council in Central Visayas (RNC-7) were rabbit dispersal program, healthy start and waste segregation system in the barangays.
The rabbit dispersal program is implemented by the city agriculture’s office, which is a member of the City Nutrition Council.
“This livestock program is one of the measures we implemented to combat malnutrition in the villages,” Taburaza said.
The healthy start program is implemented by the city social welfare and development office wherein child development workers in the barangays take care of working mothers’ children aged zero to three years old.
On the other hand, all barangays in the city has been employing waste segregation practices to support the city’s nutrition program.
“A clean environment will lead to good nutrition,” said Taburaza.
One of the city’s innovative programs also cited by the RNC-7 is the city nutrition office’s (CNO) pig dispersal program that resulted to the now flourishing piggery business of livestock raiser Cecilia delos Reyes of northern Junob, Dumaguete.
Delos Reyes was a beneficiary of the program in 2007 in which she received one pig from CNO.
“From one pig, she is now raising ten sows,” exsaid Taburaza.
The pig dispersal project is one of CNO’s intervention programs implemented from the P50,000 cash grant the city received in 2007 as a Consistent Regional Outstanding Winner in Nutrition (Crown) awardee for maintaining a good performance in propagating nutrition plans for three consecutive years.
The city nutritionist is positive that the city will keep up its award-winning performance in the coming years.
“We hope to win the Green Banner award next time,” said Taburaza.
The Green Banner Award is the highest award granted by the RNC-7 to a local government unit for an “exemplary performance in managing its nutrition action plan.”
Dumaguete City Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria has assured the availability of funds to support the city’s nutrition programs especially for the underweight pre-schoolers and graders including pregnant mothers.
The city’s supplemental feeding program has been expanded to include children from grades 1 to 4 and underweight pregnant women with an annual budget of P2 million and another P1.1 million for the fresh milk feeding program.