By Jason Neola

 

NAGA CITY, Philippines — The City Government of Naga, Helen Keller International, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints strengthened their partnership through a memorandum of agreement that will boost the implementation of Barangay First 1,000 Days (BF1KD) Phase 3, which aims to improve the health of mothers and their children through proper nutrition.

During the project launch held last February 3, 2026, Mayor Leni Robredo thanked the two partner organizations for supporting the city in further strengthening its health and nutrition campaign in Naga’s 27 barangays.

The mayor also said that the city’s health workers, including Barangay Health Workers, are highly motivated and genuinely focused on implementing Naga’s health programs.

She added that the city needs partnerships like these to help ensure an outcomes-oriented approach—meaning efforts are geared toward achieving good results and not merely focused on activities and processes.

Even before she assumed office last year, Robredo has been advocating for a data-driven governance, emphasizing the expeditious gathering of accurate data and indicators from communities to enhance local government programs and advocacies including healthcare and education agenda.

She emphasized that one way to translate the competence and passion of health workers into better results is through the efficient collection of accurate data from the barangays. This data serves as the basis for determining the appropriate actions needed to provide proper nutrition and good health to children, especially during the first 1,000 days of life.

According to Robredo, being data-driven is the path toward achieving good nutrition and health—key factors in attaining better education outcomes or improved learning results, which can be seen in children’s performance in school.