Champions of Nutrition

Every semester, UP JMA promotes various meaningful advocacies that raise awareness on important societal issues in the country. To strengthen its social action arm, the organization established a new brand called We Champion, which is composed of a team of students who are members of UP JMA and are dedicated to serve and give back to the country. This change pushed the campaigns to achieve more in terms of spreading awareness and holding value-adding activities. 

For the first half of the academic year, the chosen advocacy of We Champion is on nutrition, which is entitled The Big Plate. The team saw it fit to focus on nutrition as they noticed that there is a lack of awareness that nutrition is an important part of health and also a universal right, since there is a notion that nutritious food and practices are mere privileges. The team wants to be able to create sustainable change within a community that will allow more members to sustainably practice healthier lifestyles. Effectively advocating for nutrition, We Champion conducted initiatives that ultimately achieved its goal. To allow the chosen advocacy to be more widespread, different releases regarding nutrition was one of the priorities of the team. Posters and a video series were created and shared on different online platforms. Along with this, several on-ground activities have been conducted in Barangay Culiat to teach its residents how to understand and practice living nutritiously. The team partnered with the Department of Science and Technology-Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FRNI) for their initiatives namely Sangkap, Lusog, Takam, and Taglay. First, Sangkap was a day for the parents and other adults to have a talk regarding nutrition.

Second, Lusog was composed of two feeding programs that served meals, prepared using FRNI-developed recipes.

Next, Takam was a cooking workshop for the members of the barangay wherein they were taught to cook nutritious meals. Additionally, a collection of recipes from DOST-FRNI was distributed to the attendees to aid them in maintaining healthier lifestyles. 

Lastly, Taglay capped the semester long campaign by serving as the culminating activity for the barangay by allowing its members to prepare nutritious meals and showcase what they have learned and celebrate with the community.

As an organization that deals with multiple aspects concerning the society, UP JMA continues to tackle different issues that affect the country and develop programs that will improve the overall condition of its community where everyone can win because as we lead, together, we champion.