Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 7) — The Canadian government is studying the possibility of partnering with the Philippines in addressing the nutrition of Filipino school children, capacity building on food security, and mitigating the impacts of climate change.
These will be the short-term priorities of Canadian Minister for International Development Harjit Sajjan in the Philippines-Canada cooperation.
“I would be looking at how we can support greater nutrition for kids in the Philippines. This is because we already have a strong relationship in development. We can then look at how we can improve it further,” Sajjan told reporters during his visit to the Philippines.
Sajjan visited a school in Surigao Del Norte to check on the progress of recovery and rehabilitation after Typhoon Odette. Canada has been providing aid to the country’s typhoon-hit communities.
“I’d like to move very quickly on the nutrition program in schools and how schools are doing gardening. On the nutrition side, we already have a program in place in other parts of the world, we also provide different vitamins that are in Canada. Research has shown that proper vitamins can bring the kids to work better and learn more,” he said.
Sajjan also noted that Canada can share expertise in terms of food technology, which can help in the Philippines’ bid towards food security.
“Create jobs, within the entire supply chain from the food to agri-tech – there’s technology in [agriculture], cold storage, transportation, and how you sell it,” he said.
The minister also acknowledged that the Philippines is among the most disaster-prone countries in the world, and therefore there is a need to work together to mitigate the impact of climate change. But he said the partnership should not only be about funds but should be about capacity building.
“We will provide support but it will come with capacity building. We won’t be just giving equipment. Using equipment is useless without efficient training or skills,” Sajjan added.
