Hontiveros on reevaluation of the Philippines' nutrition plan

Sen. Risa Hontiveros expresses the need to reevaluate the country's nutrition plan, how it was implemented, and what more can be done, noting that the Philippines maintains its position as among the top 10 countries with the highest number of stunted children, which is an effect of malnutrition.

In her message during the webinar of the 2nd National Evaluation Policy (NEP) Forum on "Evaluating the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN)" Tuesday, November 3, 2020, Hontiveros said the national evaluation program is an "important North Star" for legislators and decision makers of the country that could help discern the sustainability and efficiency of policies and serve as a map to finding the right path to the nation's goals.

"It is consequential that we reevaluate our nutrition plan, how it has been implemented and how we can do what has never been done before, to heal a historically painful moment in time. I hope that this NEP will be the 'North Star' once more especially in such an extraordinary time," Hontiveros said.

The webinar was organized by the Senate Economic Planning Office (SEPO) and the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department (CPBRD) of the House of Representatives in line with Hontiveros' legislative proposal, Senate Bill No. 788, which mandates the establishment of NEP in government to strengthen the legal and institutional framework for the regular conduct of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of public policies, programs and projects.

Sen. Imee Marcos and Rep. Alfred Vargas, who also authored separate NEP bills, gave their respective messages during the webinar with Peter Srouji, Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) Senior Research Manager, National Nutrition Council Executive Director Azucena Dayanghirang, Food and Nutrition Research Institute Chief Science Research Specialist and OIC Director Imelda Angeles-Agdeppa, and IDinsight economist Crystal Haijing Huang as presentor and discussants. (Senate PRIB/SEPO)