League of Provinces of the Philippines and Zuellig Family Foundation Strengthen Capacities for Better Nutrition Governance 

The League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) is championing local actions to address malnutrition, specifically stunting and wasting, focusing on the critical window for child development which is the first 1000 days of life. 

The Philippines remains to have high levels of child stunting with 26.4 percent, which means that 1 in every 4 children under five years of age are short for their age. The national government is pushing for more robust and sustained LGU actions—especially in capitalizing on LGU’s powers in driving nutrition improvements—starting in 34 priority provinces identified in the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN). Governor Reynaldo S. Tamayo, Jr., LPP President, emphasized that provinces can take the lead in these efforts in response to the call of the President.

LPP has partnered with the Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF) to strengthen critical leadership and governance competencies of provincial nutrition teams and establish province-wide systems necessary for an effective and sustained nutrition and food security programs. LPP President, Governor Reynaldo S. Tamayo, Jr., and ZFF President and Executive Director Austere A. Panadero made the partnership official with a Memorandum of Understanding to operationalize the partnership.  

For over a decade, ZFF has been implementing health and nutrition leadership and governance development programs in collaboration with selected provinces, national government agencies, and international development partners.  Province–led efforts showed that stunting rates in program areas have been reduced by approximately 2 percent per year.