"WE only need to have the collaborative efforts of everyone in the community to achieve zero malnutrition among our children. It's not that hard to achieve a healthy community."

This is apparently what made Ma. Enone Gabac dela Cueva to perform religiously the tedious functions of a barangay nutrition scholar (BNS) of Barangay A.O. Floirendo in Panabo City.

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The barangay where she serves for 10 years now is situated within a vast banana plantation owned by the Floirendo-owned Tadeco Inc., but this never hampered her dream of a malnourish-free community.

Such dream has slowly been achieved; the latest of her feats is winning this year's National Outstanding Barangay Nutrition Scholar, besting the more than 22,000 BNSs nationwide.

What made her win such prestigious award? She became instrumental to transform Barangay A.O. Floirendo to a malnourish-free barangay through various nutrition programs she initiated with the assistance of the Barangay Nutrition Committee, led by Barangay Captain Miguel P. Niez; the Tadeco Inc. through its corporate social responsibility arm, the A.O. Floirendo Foundation; the Council of Women, and barangay officials.

"I instill in my mind that someday, somehow I can also be a national outstanding barangay nutrition scholar and I continue to believe that if there is collaborative effort of everyone, we can really make it," dela Cueva, 43, said in an interview with Sun.Star Davao.

On October 15, she received the award from President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Health Secretary Francisco Duque at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City. She went home with a trophy and a cash prize of P50,000.

The Barangay Nutrition Scholars Program is a strategy under the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition that involves training, deployment and supervision of volunteer workers or barangay nutrition scholars. Presidential Decree No. 1569 mandates every barangay in the country to deploy one BNS to be responsible for monitoring the nutritional status of the vulnerable and for delivering nutrition services and other related activities.

Married to Generoso dela Cueva, (they are blessed with two children -- Gretyl, 19, and Hansyl, 15) Enone, as she is fondly called, aspired to do more for the barangay by injecting her own ideas and innovations in performing her duties as BNS.

"It was just a dream before that someday I can serve the people in my own little ways. Such dream was made to realize by giving the opportunity and privilege to serve the people of Brgy. A. O. Floirendo," Enone said.

It was her tenacious advocacy that the breastfeeding room in Antonio O. Floirendo Hospital was established. Her background in midwifery gave her the foundation for her strong belief in the importance of breastfeeding on infant nutrition as well as the positive effects of mother and baby bonding.

At present, the breastfeeding room is being used by nursing employees to express and store their breastmilk and for pre-natal counseling for pregnant employees.

Enone is also a staunch advocate of greening the barangay. She encouraged the community to establish gardens in all the puroks in addition to the barangay and school vegetable gardens.

The community nursery was also established to help sustain supply of seeds and planting materials maintained by the Barangay Nutrition Committee members.

"We try to make vegetables more accessible and readily available to the community. And that's for free," she said.

Enone's desire to produce nutritious and pesticides-free vegetables also prompted her to support and assist the vermiculture production in her barangay.

She said she helps monitor this barangay-initiated project in cooperation, with Tadeco Inc. "We want to make sure that barangay constituents who wish to grow their own vegetable gardens have access to this organic fertilizer and knowledge of its use," Enone said.

It was also Enone's idea to use vitamin A-rich squash and carbohydrate rich potatoes in baking breads in the barangay. Their initial success led to the use of carrots, mongo, and ube, in baking nutritious muffins. These muffins are given during the supplementary feeding to 18 undernourished school children.

Enone believes that educating the mothers and caregivers on proper nutrition can prevent the development of malnutrition among children.

For this purpose, Enone, with the support of the barangay officials, conducted the Pabasa sa Nutrisyon as a strategy for nutrition education.

"To ensure better attendance of mothers, this activity was scheduled along with the weekly immunization of children and pregnant mothers," she said.

To further empower mothers in contributing not only to the income of their families, but also to the community, Enone facilitated skills training for unemployed on various projects. Among them: rellenong bangus making, bangus deboning, chicken and pork ham preservation, toyo making, ice cream making, and handicraft-making like flower arrangement and table skirting.

Enone, herself a great role model of good nutrition, is an active member of the barangay's Healthy Lifestyle Campaign team. She encourages people to join the activities by explaining the importance of healthy habits.

The campaign includes the conduct of free aerobic classes twice a week which Enone does not fail to attend.

All these efforts coupled with the support and commitment of the barangay, resulted in the achievement and maintenance of zero prevalence of underweight preschool children in Barangay A. O. Floirendo.