League of Corporate Foundations launches LIFE initiative Targeting Child Stunting in PH

Coinciding with the 50th year of National Nutrition Month in the Philippines, the League of Corporate Foundations (LCF) has announced the LIFE initiative.

LIFE Initiative

LIFE stands for LCF’s Intervention for Food Security, Nutrition, and Empowerment. The LIFE launch was held last July 5, 2024, at the CSR Expo in Glorietta, Makati City.

League of Corporate Foundations LIFE — *L-R*: **Edric Calma**, LCF Board Trustee and Vice President, Knowledge Channel Foundation; **Shem Jose Garcia**, LCF Vice Chairperson and Executive Director, Vivant Foundation; **Elena Van Tooren**, Managing Director, East West Seed Foundation; **Dyan Tee**, Assistant Executive Director, Metrobank Foundation; **Myn Garcia**, Deputy Country Representative, Asia Foundation; **Jose Gabriel Dimalanta**, Scaling Up Nutrition Business Network Secretariat (SUN Network); **Joanna La O**, Director for Strategy and Program Innovation, Jollibee Group Foundation; **Ramon Derige**, LCF Board Treasurer and Executive Director, SEAOIL Foundation; Hon. Jim S. Hataman-Salliman, Governor, Province of Basilan; **Angie Sapitula-Evidente**, Lead Manager, HAPAGASA Program, Assisi Foundation; **Enrique O. Canoy**, Corporate Communications Head, RMN Networks; **Rina Lopez-Bautista**, President and Executive Director, Knowledge Channel Foundation; **Sebastian C. Quiniones, Jr.**, LCF Chairperson and Executive Director, Pilipinas Shell Foundation; **Austere Panadero**, LCF Board Trustee and President, Zuellig Family Foundation; **Patrick Aurelio**, CSR Officer, RMN Foundation; **Suyin Lui Lee**, Philippines Country Representative, Asian Philanthropy Circle; **Antonio Lambino**, President, Ayala Foundation.

LIFE is the League of Corporate Foundations’ flagship project moving forward into 2024 and beyond. It is a League-wide effort to prevent wasting and stunting. Stunting can have dire and lasting consequences for afflicted children—as well as Philippine society as a whole—if these concerns are not addressed. LIFE aims to decrease, if not eliminate stunting, wasting and malnutrition—one province at a time, based on the Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (PPAN).

The Province of Basilan is one of the League’s first areas of focus. It will work together with the provincial government and other concerned groups to bring the program to the people of Basilan. Present at the launch was Hon. Jim S. Hataman-Salliman, the Governor of the Province of Basilan.

Facts About Stunting

Stunting affects 26% of Filipino children younger than 5 years. Stunted children can struggle to learn, often perform poorly in school, and may miss many days of school due to ill health.

The condition is irreversible; stunted children who reach adulthood may be less healthy and less productive and can earn less than adults who were not stunted as children. Stunting results from poor nutrition of both young children and mothers-to-be, including deficiencies in the consumption of vital micronutrients such as iron and Vitamin A.

“Concerned members of the League are working to collaborate on LIFE. We also endeavor to identify, reach out to, and work with other like-minded groups, corporates and government organizations, individuals and civil society groups,“ said Sebastian C. Quiniones, LCF Board Chairperson and Executive Director, Pilipinas Shell Foundation, Inc.

LIFE encompasses nutrition specific interventions including supplementary feeding, micronutrient supplementation, nutrition promotion for behavior change, and nutrition during emergency situations; nutrition sensitive interventions such as a “Greenlihood Program” (provision of vegetable seedlings to target FK1D groups) and WASH interventions; and enabling mechanisms such as the establishment of a nutrition office that will undertake relevant activities such as the conduct of trainings in nutrition.

The LIFE launch was held back-to-back with the launch of the inaugural Medal of Recognition, which upholds outstanding corporate social responsibility initiatives undertaken by organizations which are not members of LCF, and as part of the celebration of National CSR Week in the Philippines. LCF is mandated to lead the celebration of National CSR Week on the first week of July by virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 299, s. 2000, including through organizing the annual CSR Conference and Expo.