The DSWD Bangsamoro Umpungan sa Nutrisyon (BangUn Project) is an initiative that seeks to improve nutrition levels of children in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). The project involves providing food assistance and health education to vulnerable households. This includes expanding access to nutritious foods, ensuring proper hygiene practices, promoting breastfeeding and complementary feeding, creating awareness on nutrition-related diseases, and increasing the capacity of local communities to address their own nutritional needs.
Also Read: DSWD AICS Cash Assistance Programs
The BangUn Project has two main components: Food Assistance and Health Education. The Food Assistance component involves distributing fortified rice through food rationing, which is designed to ensure that families have enough food for everyone in their household. In order to ensure better absorption of nutrients from the fortified rice, Vitamin A capsules are distributed along with it.
Barangays in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao have access to free, healthy meals thanks to the Bangsamoro Umpungan Sa Nutrisyon (BangUn Project).The initiative began in 2013 to boost ARMM citizens’ health and happiness. There are now 24 barangays where the BangUn Project is active, but there are plans in the works to increase that number.
The BangUn Project has been lauded for its success in changing people’s eating habits in ARMM and bringing down the prevalence of childhood malnutrition and obesity in the region.
What Is DSWD Bangsamoro Umpungan Sa Nutrisyon (BangUn Project)?
BangUN coordinates aid to prevent child hunger in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). Its goals are to save malnourished children’s lives, improve underweight or severely underweight children’s nutrition, provide parents greater control over their family’s food and health, and give communities better access to nutrition-support services.
BangUN provides Nutrition Direct Services, Nutrition Education and Advocacy, and Building Resilient Communities (i.e., food-for-work, livelihood capital, cash-for-work, production of indigenous food for children, access to potable drinking water, psychosocial interventions, livelihood skills training, etc.).
Benefits
First, in the chosen target priority communities, raise the nutritional status of children ages 0-12 who are underweight or seriously underweight (weight-for-age).
Second, to give parents and other community caregivers the tools they need to ensure their families have access to nutritious meals and stay well.
Third, to fortify neighborhoods by making it easier for residents to participate in a wide range of federal nutrition assistance programs, which have recently converged
Qualifications
People who live in the following areas:
- Maguindanao
- Sulu
- Tawi Tawi
- Lanao del Sur
- Basilan
Focus Point:
- Women who are pregnant or nursing, up to the age of 2
- kids under the age of 2 living in the neighborhoods
- Malnourished kids between the ages of 2 and 12 who attend Madaris and DepEd elementary schools who aren’t part of the government’s School-Based Feeding Program and
- Those who are young and in the evacuation centers
Procedure
1. Social Preparation
1.1 The DSWD-Central Office is responsible for providing program orientation to all DSWD Field Offices X and Xll, DSWD-ARMM, all Partner Government Agencies (both National and ARMM), and any person engaged by BangUn. After that, the BangUn staff will provide an orientation for the school’s administration, faculty, and Ustadz.
1.2 The FOS IX, X, and Xll will specify the responsibilities of each Party regarding the participation and assistance of partners.
1.3 A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) outlining the responsibilities of each party is necessary for the participation and support to be formalized in line with COA Circular Number 94-013 and 2007-001, dated 13 December 1994 and 25 October 2007, respectively (depending on the partnership).
Before the Supplemental Feeding Program can be put into place, the BangUn staff, with the help of the P/C/MSWDOs, must coordinate the school and community. Before launching the program, BangUn’s field agents will work with the P/C/MWDOs to complete the following tasks:
- Informing and engaging local officials and interested parties in the BangUn project.
- Holding meetings in the neighborhood and at school to rally support from concerned citizens and parents.
BangUn Field Staff will organize parents and guardians a month before feeding implementation to gain their support. All parents and guardians will be divided into working committees for marketing, food preparation and distribution, cooking, session management, and restoration. Parents and guardians will meet monthly to discuss BangUn issues.
BangUn’s in-field personnel will hold team-building exercises to help parents and guardians work together effectively. This will include exercises that help them understand their place in the larger scheme of the project and the team/organization they are a part of. Volunteerism and generosity will flourish as a result of this.
1.4 Each kid will have an intake form filled up by the BangUn Field Staff and the School Health or Nutrition Officer. The child’s records should be validated and updated if they already contain information from an earlier intake. The school’s principal or nurse might be good sources for such details. If we want accurate and complete information, we must go to the family’s house and talk to them.
1.5 BangUn nutrition officers, school nurses, BNS/BHWs, and Rural Health Unit supervisors will assess children’s height and weight before each meal (RHU). Before feeding, the nutritional status will be checked using weight for age or height for age, according to the New WHO Child Growth Standards (CGS), using calibrated weighing scales and height boards. Each child’s permanent growth tracking record should include their name, age, birth date, baseline weight, and monthly weight. The information gathered here will be stored permanently in the FOS database.
1.6 Before the beginning of feeding, the BangUn staff will work with the RHU to ensure that the children receiving aid have had a medical checkup and have been dewormed.
The BangUn staff is responsible for creating child profiles and storing relevant information for the FO to review.
To ensure that the children who are beneficiaries of the BangUn Nutrition Program are fed for a full 180 days, the BangUn Nutrition Officers, in conjunction with the school’s Health or Nutrition Staff, will keep track of the children’s attendance at school.
2. Conduct of Feeding (Pregnant & Lactating Mothers, Children)
2.1 The feeding schedule must be maintained for 180 days, either six or seven days per week.
2.2 Beneficiaries will receive feedings for the above-mentioned period.
- Culturally acceptable meals must follow the BangUn Nutritionist and/or FNRI Nutritional Guidelines for Filipinos menu, Dietitian, which is equivalent to PDRI.
- C/MNAO and/or Nutritionist may alter the halal cycle menu based on locally accessible nutritious meals.
2.3 The Parent Committees are responsible for providing free manpower for the preparation of the halal cycle meal and the supervision of feeding times. Volunteer parents will be scheduled every month by the Madaris faculty and staff responsible for the BangUn supplemental feeding program.
2.4 In addition to being fed, children should be instructed in health care and nutrition behaviors such as cleaning hands before and after meals, practicing good table manners, and saying grace before and after eating.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What Is The Primary Objective Of The BangUn Nutrition Program?
The primary objective of the BangUn Nutrition Program is to reduce chronic malnutrition and hunger among impoverished children in rural areas of the Philippines.
2. How Long Will The program Last?
The program will last for 180 days, either six or seven days per week.
3. Who Is Eligible To Receive Aid From The Program?
Pregnant and lactating mothers, as well as children aged 6 months to 5 years old, are eligible to receive aid from the program.
4. What Kind Of Assistance Will Be Provided?
Beneficiaries will receive nutritionally adequate and culturally appropriate meals, as well as health and nutrition education.
5. How Will The Program Be Implemented?
DSWD and local governments will implement the initiative together (LGUs). Likewise, LGUs will work with school staff, Parent Committees, and the BangUn Field Officer to implement the program.
6. How Will Recipients’ Nutrition Be Assessed?
According to the New WHO Child Growth Standards, the nutritional status will be measured using weight for age or height for age (CGS).
Summary
BangUn Nutrition Program addresses chronic malnutrition and hunger among poor children in rural Philippines. By providing nutritionally adequate and culturally relevant meals, the organization attempts to help the neediest. Through DSWD and LGUs’ engagement, the program can reach its target recipients and positively benefit its communities.