Helen Keller Intl, LDS launch P12-M project vs child stunting
- Bicolmail Web Admin
- 17 hours ago
- 2 min read
Helen Keller Intl Philippines in collaboration with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) launched the project, ‘Barangay First 1,000 Days: Cultivating Resilience Through Community Gardens,” which aims to support the health and nutrition of more than 60,000 mothers and infants in over 100 barangays across three sites in the country.
Kicking off in Naga City, the project is also launching in February in the Provinces of Isabela and Negros Occidental. These project sites were identified as part of the 34 priority provinces of the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN) for 2023-2028. These areas have the largest population of stunted children and families facing food insecurity.
“The core design of this support package is really about empowering our barangay health workers and nutrition scholars so they can organize community-led mother-to-mother support groups,” said Helen Keller Intl Philippines Country Representative Dolly Reario.
The project will provide Php 12 million-worth of supplements, seeds, training, and expertise until 2027 to establish mothers support groups and community gardens focused on ensuring nutrition during the critical stage of a child’s first 1000 days of life, from pregnancy to two years old.
“We found that mothers learn more easily about proper prenatal nutrition, breastfeeding, and optimal complementary feeding when learning with and from the lived experiences of other mothers,” Reario added. Through these peer networks, mothers are also provided with essential commodities such as pregnancy and feeding supplements as well as Vitamin A and deworming capsules.
The collaborative project—implemented in close coordination with the Department of Health, National Nutrition Council, and partner local governments—will complement existing supplementation and feeding programs. It will also support policy advocacy so the gains of the initiative is sustained beyond the life of the project.
The approach has already been proven to work as this project launch marks the third phase of Helen Keller Intl’s Barangay First 1,000 Days initiative in the Philippines. The approach has been successfully implemented the previous year in over 150 barangays in Camarines Sur, Oriental Mindoro, and Pangasinan, as well as Tondo, Manila.
“One enhancement Helen Keller did for our third phase is integrating support for the government’s Gulayan sa Barangay initiative. This more holistic approach helps certain communities that are geographically and economically isolated to gain access to essential complementary foods,” said Reario. “We are excited to help barangays and mothers establish community gardens and add more fresh, delicious, and nutritious produce to their diets, ensuring a healthy and smart next generation of Filipinos.”
Currently, Helen Keller Intl and LDS are also supporting similar nutrition initiatives in five more areas across the country including: Nueva Ecija, Sorsogon, Capiz, Negros Oriental, and Lanao Del Norte. These are all contributing to achieving the PPAN 2023-2028 target to reduce, eventually eliminate, all forms of malnutrition through healthier diets, better nutrition practices, improved access to quality nutrition services, and enabling mechanisms.
