IN 1991, Dindo Danao started his career with food manufacturing firm CDO-Foodsphere as a marketing consultant for public relations and corporate communications.
ln 2004, the company established Odyssey Foundation Inc. (OFI) to serve as its social development arm. Its mandate is to develop programs concerning children’s nourishment, childcare and education, livelihood enhancement and health and nutritional advocacy, and to generate funds via solicitation and fund-raising activities to support its programs.
The 62-year-old Danao volunteered to join OFI because its advocacies were close to his heart. He has served as OFI executive director for the last 15 years.
“When the company gave me the foundation as an extension of my job, I grabbed it because I came from a poor family,” Danao said in a phone interview with the BusinessMirror.
“My father worked as a sanitary inspector under the then Rural Health Unit of the Department of Health in a fifth-class municipality in the northern part of Cagayan. In my elementary days, I joined my father in his inspection trips, and those experiences served as my exposure to the lives of the marginalized,” he said.
This led to the development of Danao’s strong affinity to social services.
OFI advocacies
Supplemental feeding is one of OFI’s major programs. For the last 45 years, CDO has allotted 7 percent of its revenues for the health-care needs of consumers that belong to the D and E markets.
“As a food company, CDO-Foodsphere considers nutrition, through supplemental feeding, as its core competence in its corporate social responsibility,” Danao said.
Christian Valdez, a six-year-old son of carpenter Hilario Valdez and Jennifer Valdez from Barangay Gen. T. de Leon, Valenzuela City was considered underweight for his age. After undergoing a 90-day supplemental feeding program organized by OFI, Christian gained 3.1 kilograms.
Christian is among 25,000 children-beneficiaries of OFI’s Nutrition Program dubbed Gabay Nutrisyon, which is a nationwide campaign of OFI designed to eliminate hunger among children two to six years old.
The campaign has reached out to children in underprivileged parts of Metro Manila and far-flung communities such as Santa Ana, Cagayan; Malilipot, Albay; Presentacion, Camarines Sur; Benguet and Leyte. OFI has basically provided intervention to the serious problem of malnutrition in country.
Data from Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) show that chronic malnutrition rate among Filipino children up to two years old was at 26.2 percent in 2015, the highest in 10 years.
According to studies, the first 1,000 days are crucial, and the child must receive optimum nutrition. If not achieved, the effects of malnutrition will be irreversible. Aware of the problem, OFI’s core advocacy is hunger mitigation to save children from undernutrition.
“We are actively implementing Gabay Nutrisyon supplemental feeding program to provide nourishment to children and enable them to reach their fullest potential,” Danao said, adding that OFI conducts nutrition advocacy intervention in the form of 90 days supplemental food program when nutritious food and medicine are given to the children. At the end of the feeding program, the children are expected to have reached their normal nutritional status. As of February 28, 2020, total beneficiaries of the Gabay Nutrisyon program reached 25,044 kids.
“Urgent intervention is needed to reverse the health condition of underweight Filipino children. We believe that a directly administered and closely monitored feeding program brings the needed results,” Jerome Ong, president of Odyssey Foundation, and CDO-Foodsphere said in a statement.
“Combating children’s malnutrition in its early stage can have lasting impact on their lives as they grow and become productive members of society,” Ong added.
In 2005, OFI first conducted Gabay Nutrisyon, a community-based supplemental feeding program.
By feeding the children of Barangay Paso de Blas in Valenzuela City. OFI expanded the program and launched the NEELS advocacy campaign. NEELS stand for Nutrition, Education, Environment, Livelihood and Service Humanity.
Promoting micro-entrepreneurship
Improving the lives of the marginalized is being addressed by OFI, according to Danao.
Anecita C. Manayon, a 50-year-old street vendor in Dalandanan, Valenzuela City, saw her income rise after learning how to produce processed food products under a livelihood program initiated by OFI.
“I used to sell only dried fish and vegetables. But when I learned how to produce siomai, empanada, embotido and other processed food products, I am now selling more products in Valenzuela City. My income also increased, thanks to Odyssey Foundation,” Manayon said.
Manayon is one of the 3,100 beneficiaries of Odyssey Foundation’s Gabay Hanapbuhay livelihood program, which turned them into micro-entrepreneurs. The program equips mostly poor parents with entrepreneurial skills so that they can earn additional income for their families.
Danao said OFI trains beneficiaries on cosmetology, facial treatment, food processing, fancy jewelry making, dishwashing liquid and soap making, massage therapy, fancy accessories design, beads making and water lily weaving. OFI also provides starter kits to selected participants following assessment and evaluation.
The program was created to help parents overcome economic problems such as inadequate household income, unemployment and malnutrition of children.
“We tapped the mothers to augment the family income by teaching them livelihood skills,” Danao said.
Gina Briones, a 49-year-old housewife in Malanday, Valenzuela City, now earns more from selling embotido to her neighbors, after her training on meat processing under Gabay Buhay. “After the training, I received orders from my neighbors who liked my embotido. I am now able to save, if there are many orders. Even my children now spend less in school, because I personally prepare their lunch,” she said.
Helen Sumayang, a 47-year-old housewife in Barangay Pasolo, Valenzuela City, said the training on massage therapy now enables her to earn. “My neighbors and friends know that I have been well trained and call me if they need a massage. I earn P200 to P300 per massage. This means additional income for my family,” she said.
The livelihood program started on October 8, 2011, in Barangay Maysan, Valenzuela, with 142 parent-participants under the first batch, according to OFI President Jerome Ong.
As of March 1, 2020, some 3,100 individuals, mostly parents of undernourished children in poor communities from 45 barangays, have graduated from Gabay Hanapbuhay with the help of about 40 community partners and 202 volunteers.
Among OFI’s partners under the Gabay Hanapbuhay program are Ang Hortaleza Foundation Inc., Villa Corazon Homeowners Association Inc., Philippine Business for Social Progress and Friends of Win Organization.
An impact assessment of the program shows that 61.25 percent or 1,715 participants used the skills they received from the training on profitable livelihood projects, while 18.75 percent (525 participants) used their newly acquired skills for home activities that allow them to have less household expenses.
Gabay Hanapbuhay aims to promote productivity and develop livelihood skills among selected participants in a chosen community. Aside from livelihood enhancement, OFI develops programs concerning children nourishment, child education, environment and other social services.
“This is our little contribution to community empowerment. We have allocated funds to build and develop micro-entrepreneurs so that they can become more active in nation-building. More important than dole-outs to the less fortunate are real and long-term solutions to poverty. Women, especially housewives, are empowered to contribute to household income through practical livelihood activities,” Ong said.