At least 60 local government units (LGUs) in the Bicol region will start to implement various projects worth PHP159 million as the first tranche of grants under the Philippine Multisectoral Nutrition Project (PMNP).

In an interview on Monday, Christine Espiritu, PMNP regional program manager, said the project will be implemented in four provinces: Camarines Sur—30 towns with PHP82.4 million worth of projects; Catanduanes—seven towns, PHP16.2 million; Masbate—16 towns, PHP41.6 million; and Sorsogon—seven towns with PHP18.9 million in grants.

“The PMNP is a multisectoral nutrition approach that aims to strengthen the importance of nutrition through nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions using various platforms of LGUs,” she said.

Espiritu said the goal of the project is to change the understanding of social behavior and communication strategy in the general aspect of nutrition.

She said the program, projects, and activities under the PMNP will focus on the first 1,000 days of a child.

“The municipalities were chosen based on the number of stunted children, pregnant women, lactating mothers, and adolescent children in their areas from the survey conducted by the National Nutrition Council. The performance-based grants were determined from the internal and external verification conducted by various teams on the ground,” she said.

Espiritu said the grants were already distributed to the 60 towns starting from the 3rd week of July to the first week of August this year.

“Since the funds were already given, the beneficiaries were expected to follow the PMNP guidelines and plan of activities they provided in implementing the projects,” she said.

Espiritu said the second tranche of the grants will be given in 2025, provided that 80 percent of the first tranche has already been utilized.

PMNP was funded by the World Bank for the Philippine government through the Department of Health and other government agencies. (PNA)