A two-day Planning Workshop on the School-Based Feeding Program was conducted recently at the Regional Education Learning Center. It was attended in by school implementers which includes School Heads, Feeding Coordinators, and School Bids and Awards Committee members.Representing the Department of Social Welfare and Development was Ms.Sheryl N.Ave, the Regional Nutritionist & Dietitian.
The Department of Education recognizes the importance of good nutrition to the improvement of academic performance of learners. It is considered to be a sound investment in education as it is associated with increased enrollment, improved attendance, better performance , decreased repitition, and decreased dropout. Hence, DepEd proposed in the 2014 Budget a School-Based Feeding Program (SBFP)and was approved by President Aquino.The said feeding program will cater to a targeted 562, 262 severely wasted school children from Kinder to Grade 6 nationwide.
The SBFP shall be implemented in partnership with the local government units, non-government organizations, civil society organizations. Budget for the said Feeding Program shall be lodged with the Department of Social Welfare and Development. The feeding program is expected to start this July 2014 and many preparatory and planning activities are needed to be done at the Regional and Division levels, one of which was this planning workshop wherein the Operational guidelines for the program was presented .
In Region 10, there will be an estimated 17,529 children to be fed starting this July . It is expected that with the feeding program, children will have improved nutritional status, improved school attendance , and decreased dropout rate among the elementary and secondary students.
The School Based Feeding Program aims to provide hot meals to the children within a 120- day period. Following the developed, standardized recipes using malunggay, along with the 20-day cycle menu utilizing locally-produced and/or grown foods, beneficiaries are assured of an additional 300 calories per day to address their nutritional deficiencies.
Written by Sheryl N.Ave & Mitzie Santiago,DSWD

Cagayan de Oro City — It’s school vacation this summer, which means most kids are planning to goof around the pool, head to the beach or meet new friends during summer camps-just to find ways to cool off from the sizzling environment.

But, it’s not for the Verana Family of St. John, Puntod this city.

The Veranas, a Pantawid Pamilya household under Set 1A, will be busy preparing for homemade foods and quenchers to be sold here in order to earn for their studies next school opening and for their daily needs.

Edith, 50, and mother of five children, helps her husband, Ramon, 50, buy ingredients for native delicacies they bake such as “puto” and “suman”. “Suman” is a glutinous rice soaked, milled, mixed with coconut milk and sugar, wrapped in the banana leaves and steamed while “puto” is a kind of steamed rice cake derived from the Southern Indian dish Puttu. It is eaten as is or with butter and/or grated fresh coconut.

At dawn, the Verana siblings: John Paul, 17; Jenevive, 16; and Melanie Grace, 14; help their mother bake these delicacies; after which Ramon wakes up and sells the baked native delicacies in Agora Market and Terminal here.

Edith disclosed that she divides the task of baking the delicacies among her children since they started to establish its business after availing the capital seed from the Sustainable Livelihood Program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in November 2013.

SLP is a community-based capacity building program that seeks to improve the socio-economic status of program participants. It is implemented through the Community-Driven Enterprise Development (CDED) approach, which equips the program participants to actively contribute to production and labor markets by making use of available resources and accessible markets.

After a month of operation, Edith, one of the 12 members of Puntod Bangon Kabus Association organized by SLP, has fully paid her loan to DSWD.

Aside from the native delicacies, the Veranas also operates a small sari-sari store where they display cups of Binignit, a Visayan vegetable soup traditionally made with slices of sabá bananas, taro, and sweet potato. The mixture is brought to a boil; being stirred occasionally until done.

More income from tailoring

Early this month, Edith graduated from a dress-making class sponsored by the Urban Community Driven Development Program of DSWD here, in collaboration with Technical Education and Skills Development Authority Northern Mindanao.

After graduation, the barangay sub-project management council chairperson of Puntod said she immediately earns from dress-making as her neighbors come to her house for tailoring jobs.

While on training with TESDA and Urban CDDP, Edith’s mother gave her a sewing machine for her to practice in making dress, blouse, polo, long pants, and curtains.

Edith and her fellow dress-making graduates is now a member of a women’s livelihood organization in Puntod which will provide tailoring-related services.

Commitment to support children’s education

Edith, a parent leader of Pantawid Pamilya in her cluster of Puntod here, assured DSWD that she will support the studies of her children, who are all studying last school year at Lapasan National High School in this city.

With the interventions provided by DSWD, Edith is optimistic that she can have all her children finish high school. “Sigurado ko nga makabangon mi sa kakabus ug makatapos og high school akong mga anak,” she said. (I am sure we can rise from poverty and my children will finish high school)

She hopes that all her children will earn a job after finishing their secondary formation.

Written by Oliver Badel Inodeo, DSWD

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Norhaya Toma has always believed that resiliency and diligence are two important pillars to success. Having nine children, she knows how bitter life could be, especially when finances are not enough to provide their basic needs. Living in a small village in Barangay Piraka, Sultan Naga Dimaporo, in the province of Lanao del Norte, Norhaya had little opportunities to improve their way of life. Even chances to make ends meet were slim, she recalled.

Like any other mothers who only want to provide for her children, the 53-year old searched daily for ways to be able to bring food on their family table. At one point, because of her resourcefulness, she was able to open her own sari-sari store but because of the lack of capital and the lack of knowledge in managing her business effectively, it eventually closed down.

“I felt like I was in a dark room, not knowing what to do to see that light I needed. I was actually at that point of questioning myself as a person. Why can’t I provide a good life for my family?” Norhaya says.

The day Norhaya was introduced to the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) by the Department of Social Welfare and Development, she felt that this was an opportunity for her to get back on her feet. She eagerly made herself available to capability building workshops the Program provided.

The SLP is a DSWD intervention that aims to improve the standard of living of poor households such as that of Norhaya’s. Through the community-driven enterprise development approach, participants like her undergo workshops and skills training in order to determine the most suitable market-driven and resource-based livelihoods to engage in.

“It was in these workshops where I saw the mistakes I did in the Sari-sari store that I managed. It was in these workshops where I learned how to manage a small-scale business, how to get more customers, and to sustain it even with the little that I have,” Norhaya says.

Thankful for the financial support of the Hanapbuhay Piraka 4P’s SEA-K Association – an association established through the DSWD’s Micro-Enterprise Track of the SLP, Norhaya rebuilt her Sari-sari store, this time armed with knowledge and strategies in managing the business.

Today, she prides herself because of her resiliency and diligence in putting up her business. The store became a source of income for her and her nine children. It has brought food on their table and has provided for their basic needs. “I can now even bring my children to the market to buy them toys,” she smiles.

Although there were times that the business came to a low point, she did not mind. “I think it is part of the business, but I do not let it bother me. I am pretty much sure that with just a little faith in myself, I can get back on my feet.”

Norhaya is a Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipno Program beneficiary who is also identified under Listahanan – the national household targeting system used by the DSWD and other social protection providers for poverty reduction.

Written by Charmaine Tadlas, DSWD