PBSP NextGen Initiative (MaMa/F1KD)

In December 2025, PBSP marked a new beginning for mothers and children in Mabuhay, Zamboanga Sibugay with the launch of a new cohort of the MaMa First 1000 Days Program. This momentum continued in March 2026 with the rollout of another cohort in Don Salvador Benedicto, Negros Occidental, expanding the program’s reach to more underserved communities.

Thirty (30) nutritionally at-risk pregnant women were enrolled in Mabuhay, while another thirty (30) mothers joined the program in Don Salvador Benedicto. Across both sites, these women are taking their first step toward safer and healthier pregnancies. They received free antenatal tests and multiple micronutrient supplements, critical interventions that for many represent their first access to consistent maternal care. These early investments give their children a better chance at a healthy start during the most crucial window of development, the first 1,000 days of life.

But this intervention goes beyond a single day of support. Over the next 36 months, we will accompany these mothers through a continuum of care, from pregnancy to early childhood, providing nutrition education, complementary feeding, and sustained community-based support systems. The goal is clear: to reduce child malnutrition and stunting across the community, not just in individual households.

The MaMa First 1000 Days Program is one of PBSP’s flagship NextGen Initiatives, designed to deliver long-term, scalable solutions to the country’s most pressing challenges in health, education, environment, and livelihood. In Mabuhay and Don Salvador Benedicto, it begins with 30 mothers, but its impact is meant to ripple far beyond them.

MaMa First 1000 Days Program is making steady progress across our three active cohorts in Don Salvador Benedicto (Negros Occidental), Arteche (Eastern Samar), and Mabuhay (Zamboanga Sibugay). Over 200 infants born to MaMa beneficiaries are now in the complementary phase of the program, where they are given Mingo meals to complement breastfeeding and sustain the nutritional gains that started during pregnancy. As part of the complementary feeding phase, beneficiaries are required to attend quarterly assemblies. During these quarterly assemblies, children's height and weight are measured while mothers and caregivers attend mother's classes, and are given medical and wellness consultations. To date, the three active cohorts have just finished the 3rd quarterly assembly, showing promising results.