Melinda Cañares, SFP focal person, feeds a day care pupil in Barangay Umapad, Mandaue City.
contributed photo
A twice-a-day feeding in selected local government units (LGUs) in Central Visayas will be implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Central Visayas (DSWD-7) starting next month.
This pilot undertaking compliments the existing 120-day Supplementary Feeding Program (SFP) of the DSWD-7.
The food supplementation will be in a form of hot meals to be served during snack and meal time to children five days a week for 120 days.
SFP is DSWD’s commitment to improve the Early Childhood Care and Development Program of the government.
Melinda Cañares, DSWD-7’s SFP focal person, explained that the budget per meal is still P15 per child a day.
The P11 is for the purchase of the viand and the remaining P4 is allocated for the rice.
“The feeding will be implemented twice a day for a minimum of five days and a maximum of seven days a week for a period of 120 days. Hot meals and alternative meals shall be served during the day,” Cañares explained.
She added that if the feeding session is conducted in the morning, alternative meal consisting of heavy snack shall be served before the session and hot meal after the session.
For children beneficiaries in the afternoon session, hot meals will be served upon the arrival of the children followed by an alternative meal after the session.
The SFP’s twice-a-day feeding will be piloted in 19 LGUs of Cebu province, 18 in Bohol province and two in Siquijor province.
The 39 LGUs were selected for the pilot implementation because of their fund utilization and they are among the priority areas identified by the National Nutrition Council.
Moreover, the twice-a-day feeding is expected to benefit 1,144 day care centers, 58 supervised neighborhood play groups and close to 46,300 children covering the three provinces.
The budget for this undertaking is pegged at P83.3 million for the 120-day cycle. /PR