Davao City gets excellence award for early childhood programs

The  city received the Gawad Edukampyon for Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) award given by the Department of Education (DepEd) - in partnership with other public and private stakeholders.

City Social and Welfare Development Office (CSWDO) Head Lawyer Marlisa Gallo, CSWDO Preschoolers and Children’s Concern Division (PSCCD) Chief Gilda Salvaña, CSWDO PSCCD Officer Ms. Elena Gabaton, City Health Office (CHO) Head Dr. Ashley Lopez, CHO Head of Tropical Diseases and Nutrition Division Elizabeth Banzon, and CHO’s Ms. Lynette Dimaisip received the award in a ceremony held at Araneta Center in Quezon City on June 3.

Gallo said the city won the award after an assessment of the city’s daycare budget, the number of qualified workers and personnel, early childhood capability-building activities, children’s health and nutrition programs, and partnership between government (GOs) and non-government organizations (NGOs).

She said the city got the highest scores over all other contenders.

“They recognized our accomplishments in our daycare. We know that in terms of ECCD program, the CSWDO and City Health Office are really in partnership because we are not only looking at education alone but also the health and nutrition of our children … So, in the Highly Urbanized category, Davao City received got the highest score,” Gallo said in a report from the City Information Office.

This is the second award received by the city for its early childhood programs.

Gallo said other Local Government Units from the neighboring cities are now looking to benchmark the city’s ECCD systems.

“Some came here to learn how we do our ECCD, mostly from our neighboring LGUs … Davao City is unique because we have what we call child-minding. And we also have Balay Pasilungan … which is located in Salumay, Marilog, which serves as a temporary shelter for children from Indigenous communities wherein they can stay from Monday to Friday. So we are now looking into this since we are close to resuming face-to-face classes,” she said.

Gallo thanked the city government  partners from the private sector for their continued support to the city’s ECCD programs.

She  said the city government also plans to intensify partnerships with NGOs to further improve the daycare system. 

“Our direction as of the moment is to really engage the participation of our private sector; in terms of maintaining and improving our ECCD programs. Let us really engage in our GO and NGO partnership. All of us must be aligned,” Gallo said.