THE Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed late last year by and between the Office of the President- Council for the Welfare of Children and Camarines Sur Governor Luis Raymund F. Villafuerte Jr. is beginning to bear fruitful results.

        With the green light for the P23.57M funding support “approved for implementation” of the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) Program, Governor LRay Villafuerte thru the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) is readying the 4-point services “Implementing plan” (ImPLan) for the ten (10) municipalities in Camarines Sur identified to be the beneficiaries of the said program.

        ECCD Program which forms part of the governor’s thrust to make Camarines Sur a child-friendly province, is a full-range program for the health, nutrition, early education, psychosocial and other services and interventions that will provide for the holistic needs of children from 0 - 6 years old, in order to promote their optimum growth and development even at such young age.

        According to Luzena Bermeo, Provincial ECCD Coordinator of the PSWD Office, ECCD is a program jointly supported and funded by PGMA’s Council for the Welfare of Children and the Office of the Provincial Governor covering a 3-year program implementation starting this August 2007 and will last until 2010. Bermeo added, “aside from the health, nutrition and early education provided by the ECCD, the program also caters to deliver the necessary livelihood support for the 30 barangays under the identified 10 ten municipal beneficiaries,” she said.

        Bermeo identified the municipal beneficiaries as; for Baao - Barangays Pugay, San Jose and San Ramon, Bato - brgys. Masoli, Neighborhood and Pagatpatan, Iriga City- Banao, Santiago and San Agustin, Ocampo -Ayugan, Salvacion and San Francisco, Pili - Sagurong and Cadlan, Lagonoy - Himanag, Sipaco, Sta. Maria, Ragay - Lagyo, Agrupacion and Tagbac, Lupi - Tapi, Poblacion, San Jose and Bangagan Sr., Libmanan -Handong Duang Niog and Libod II while in the municipality of Garchitorena, the target barangay beneficiaries are yet to be identified and finalized last week of August this year.

        Bermeo further elaborated that the provincial ECCD programs, which covers Health and Nutrition, Early Childhood Education and Psycho-Social Care, Other Support Programs and Institutional System for the Program, aims to improve infant and child’s survival rate, enhance young children’s holistic development, facilitate and guide the children towards a home-to-school preparatory education, establish an efficient data system for child’s care and growth, enhance the role and capabilities of parents, including the ECCD service providers, to deliver the expected results and meet the required quality standards of the various ECCD programs for the beneficiaries, and enhance efforts to promote ECCD programs and support to the poor and disadvantaged communities.

        The program coordinator also mentioned that on August 20 - 25, 2007, a team of five members from the Regional Subcommittee for the Welfare of Children (RSCWC) and the OP-Council for the Welfare of Children will visit Camarines Sur to conduct a 5-day site inspection to further identify the priority launching of the support services and activities and determine the priority needs of the beneficiaries.