The United Nations Population Fund and the European Union are undertaking a four-year project that aims to improve maternal and child health for indigenous communities in Mindanao through culturally sensitive programmes.

To be implemented by the National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP), the programme entails building access to and utilization of quality essential reproductive health services through the Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health and Nutrition (MNCHN) strategy.

A project task force has been established in Davao City to provide advisory and technical oversight and Provincial Project Management Committees (PPMC) have been organized in the five target areas for the project implementation, which include Montevista in Compostela Valley, Kitaotao in Bukidnon, Carmen in North Cotobato, Dumingag in Zamboanga del Sur, and San Luis in Agusan del Sur.

PPMC meetings have been conducted in the five provinces from January 22 to 24 with delegates from the Project Task Force composed of the NCIP, the EU Technical Assistance Team and UNFPA.

The PPMC serves as the main implementing body, primarily coordinated by the provincial NCIP office, with membership from different sectoral agencies – the executive and legislative departments, health, social welfare, planning and development, police, the Department of Interior and Local Government, and representatives from tribal councils. The inter-sectoral approach to program implementation seeks to ensure that the multi-dimensional facets of addressing the health needs of the indigenous people are properly addressed.

“We express our gratitude to the EU, NCIP and UNFPA for this project. The special needs of our indigenous population for maternal, child and reproductive health will now be better understood and will be provided appropriate interventions,” quipped Nilo Manpatilan, the focal person for Indigenous Populations and Special Concerns of Agusan del Sur.

UNFPA in the Philippines has worked with indigenous communities in various regions of the country, providing targeted support for advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Under the IP-MNCHN project, UNFPA will work hand-in-hand with the target communities and IP organizations in Mindanao in order to: (1) improve access to family planning information and services as well as address early marriage, teen pregnancy and gender-based violence issues among IPs as a means to improving maternal and adolescent health and promoting reproductive rights; (2) create a local policy environment that proactively integrates, responds and accords priority to the population, reproductive health and gender-related needs and aspirations of the IPs; and (3) create an enabling socio-cultural environment for IP women and girls to exercise their rights, particularly their reproductive rights and live free of discrimination and violence.