KORONADAL CITY – The Department of Social Welfare and Development Field Office XII (DSWD FO XII) has resumed its supplementary feeding program across the region, targeting nearly a hundred thousand children.

Cezario Joel Espejo, DSWD-12 regional director, said Monday the agency allotted around P 176,337,000 million to cover this year’s program that aims to improve the weight of children.

“This is a positive development. We appreciate the support of our partners from the local government units (LGUs),” Dir. Espejo said, citing strict observance of the health protocols – social distancing, wearing of face mask and face shield, will be observed in the entire conduct of the feeding program.

The SFP, implemented under DSWD, is the provision of food to children in addition to regular meals. The food supplementation in a form of hot meals were provided to children during snack times or mealtimes five days a week for 120 days.

Parents or guardians prepared the meals of the toddlers using indigenous food or local produce available in the communities.

Merilyn Guerra, SFP focal person, said children covered by the feeding program include those 2-3 years old enrolled in Supervised Neighbourhood Play; 3-4 years old Child Development Centers; and 5 years enrolled in CDC.

“We have staff assigned to monitor and provide technical assistance to ensure proper implementation of the program,” Guerra said, noting that the implementation was supposed to commence first quarter of the year but was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aside from the regular feeding, children will be taught about proper hand washing while their parents were trained preparing healthy meals from their backyard vegetable gardens. ( JBM / DSWD)