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Thursday, September 29, 2005
'Bright Child' program launched in Pampanga
By Albert B. Lacanlale
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Some P24 million has been earmarked for the Province of Pampanga to implement programs relative to the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) campaign of the National Government.
Marilyn Manuel, deputy executive director of the Council for the Welfare of Children-ECCD Program, said Pampanga has been chosen from among the first four provinces in Central Luzon that would implement the ECCD, which is promulgated by Republic Act (RA) 8980.
RA8980 or the ECCD Act is a deliberate policy approach to address the gaps and inefficiencies of the current ECCD in the country. The law gave birth to the "Bright Child", the brand name of the holistic program ensuring that service providers work together in providing the best opportunities for children 0 to 17 years old.
The total budget of P23,571,429 trust fund for the ECCD program implementation will be allocated from a subsidy of P16,500,00 from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) and a counterpart budget of P7,071,429 from the Provincial Government. It will cover the provinces' ECCD program from 2006 to 2008.
The trust fund will be divided among the 19 towns in the province. Expected ECCD programs that will be implemented are micro-nutrient supplementation, upgrading of barangay health centers, upgrading and provision of learning materials on day care centers and pre-elementary schools, provision of livelihood projects, establishment of database management system through provision of computers among target municipalities and capability build-up among ECCD service providers.
Luchie Gutierrez, Pampanga Provincial Social Welfare and Development officer and chairperson of the province's ECCD, said the province has already made several activities as part of the requirements set forth by the CWC to avail of the Pagcor subsidy. Orientation of various stakeholders was held in April 2005, which was followed by pre-planning sessions and consultation visits.
On September 22 to 26, a planning session for the program was held wherein delegates from various target towns formulated their own municipal development and investment plans for the children.
Also, validation visits to target barangays are also scheduled from October 3 to 7, to be followed by the finalization of the work and financial plan on October 11 to 12.
A signing of the tripartite memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the CWC national and regional levels and the Provincial Government will be on October 10.
(September 29, 2005 issue)
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