Philippines launches a Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Alliance

On 22-23 February 2017, in Manila, the Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Alliance Philippines (PhilCAN) was launched. The two day event gathered 65 participants, mainly representing civil society alliances from various islands across the Philippines, but also representatives from UNICEF, FAO, Philippine Department of Health and the National Nutrition Council of the Philippines.

On the first day, participants addressed the state of nutrition and poverty in the country, outlined the malnutrition causal framework and discussed the need for a multi-stakeholder approach. At this occasion, the National Nutrition Council presented the recently approved Philippines Plan of Action for Nutrition 2017-2022 (PPAN 2017-2022) – the result of a series of consultations conducted by the National Nutrition Council, in which PhilCAN and other civil society organisations participated.

On day 2, discussions focused on the multi-sectoral approach and nutrition indicators. Participants were divided into three working groups to reflect on nutrition indicators for the Social Protection, Agriculture/Food Security, and Health sectors. Former Co-Chair of the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on the Sustainable Development Goals Indicators, Dr. Lisa Bersales presented the nutrition indicators included in the Sustainable Development Goals.

Following up on this workshop, PhilCAN will organise, from March to April 2017, an ‘inter-island nutrition awareness caravan’ in order to raise awareness among communities about SUN initiatives, the first 1,000 days of life and the Executive order No. 51 “Milk Code”, and the Republic Act 10028, Promoting breastfeeding, as well as to engage local authorities in the implementation of the PPAN 2017-2022. The findings from the inter-island awareness caravan will be showcased at the SUN civil society alliances National Summit in May 2017.

Check out the brochure of the event here

Learn more about PhilCAN on its Facebook page.