Programs

PROGRAM PRIORITIES

For FY24 the Reina Federation will continue the programs implemented in the previous year (FY23). This is based on the results of project reviews/evaluations conducted, secondary data gathered and accomplishment reports of Program Staff. For FY24 and the remaining 2 years (until FY26), the Federation will focus on the following programs:

For LS1 (0-5 years old children & their families), the Federation will continue to implement ENHANCE ensuring that both ECD and Health and Nutrition are being catered. The Federation will intensify its coordination and/or collaboration efforts with concerned agencies including the LGU and other government agencies (e.g., MNAO, PESO, MAO, DSWD/MSWDO, etc.). Necessary capacity building activities will be done to ensure that Service Providers, parents and caregivers and other stakeholders will have the necessary KSA to respond and develop programs related to ECCD & Health and Nutrition.

For children aged 6-14 years old (LS2) including related stakeholders, the Federation will support the implementation of DepEd’s Basic Education Development Plan (BEDP) alongside supporting children & their parents/caregivers to work hand in hand in support addressing the monumental challenge among learners, teachers and parents come face-to-face classes for SY 2022 -2023. There will also be proactive steps to initiate reactivation and capacity building of child protection mechanisms to reorient schools about child protection, OSEAC, and disaster risks (including infectious diseases). Partnership and support of BLGUs will be very crucial in this phase to help keep children safe as they go back to schools.

Children/Youth aged 15 years old and above will still be the lead actor in promoting their meaningful involvement in four (4) thematic areas of Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) alongside with capacity building of Service Providers and/or Duty Bearers including parents and caregivers.  To deepen its interventions, the CYDRRM Program.

Further, adult volunteers and/or Parent Leaders being an equally vital actors in program implementation, will also be trained on different thematic areas. To make the above plans sustainable, partnership with communities, especially with Local Chief Executives (LCE) to maximize the roles of duty-bearers in all of the identified cross-cutting interventions.

OUTCOME-RELATED SITUATION

Faces of poverty among children and youth across life stage vary in Reina area. For children 0-5yo, malnutrition re-emerges as the pandemic affected many livelihoods. PSA data in 2017 showed that 33.5% of children are stunting, 21.6% are underweight, and 7.1% are wasting. More so, families’ knowledge, skills, and practices on health and hygiene also became important concerns, which can be reflected on communities’ hesitation towards COVID vaccines, as only about 56% of the adult and teen population have taken the shots. Most importantly, the early childhood development of children 3-5yo, without face-to-face sessions, forced parents and caregivers to perform tasks to teach ECCD modules and monitor milestones.

For children 6-14yo, the 2-year modular-based classes of schooling children and youth has taken its toll as 2022 ASER and Phil IRI assessments showed low levels of literacy and numeracy skills. For sponsorship enrolled children alone, only 6% is said to have age-appropriate reading and counting skills based on the 2021 CVS result. Meanwhile, the upcoming face-to-face classes is expected to bring again the long-time problem on school drop-out due to families’ financial constraints as prices of transportation and other basic commodities is an increasing trend in the past two years.

Children and youth, identified as vulnerable sectors during calamities, also face disaster-related protection issues. Unfortunately, majority of communities’ DRR plans lack quality based on the standard DILG QAT tool. In Reina’s 8 pilot barangays that have been evaluated, CPiE and CCA are some of the aspects that scored low, and their interventions were focused on prepositioning of relief goods. The sectors of children and youth, even the Sangguniang Kabataan, have very little or no involvement in DRR planning.

Relatedly, CY-led advocacies and activities also had its pause because of strict COVID restrictions. The effect is evident in the latest OCA (2021) result, where there is a 0.33% decrease in scores among municipal level youth associations and very little increase 0.66% in barangay level associations. The lack of regular meetings and activities in the communities were major concerns that float while a number of its members also experienced teen pregnancies, mental health stresses, stopped schooling, and engaged in livelihood activities to supplement family income. Very little, or no support from the community has been extended to help children and youth organizations sustained their advocacies.