Advocating for Breastfeeding Initiatives in Emergency Response
Development work turned out to be a calling for entrepreneur, homeschooling mom, and breastfeeding advocate Armi Baticados. As coordinator for the Los Baños chapter of the nonprofit, LATCH, Inc., Baticados leads campaigns to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding. Breastfeeding plays a critical role in achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals, such as alleviating hunger and improving nutrition[i].
The LATCH chapter that she heads is composed of trained volunteers who support mothers with breastfeeding counseling and preparation classes in Laguna and neighboring towns. They were prompted to ramp up their efforts amid major crises such as the Taal Volcano eruption in January 2020 and the first outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Evacuation and displacement in local communities called for skilled breastfeeding support for mothers and safe human milk donated for their children. “Recent calamities highlighted the importance of investing in breastfeeding because it is vital in emergency preparedness and response,” she shared.
To meet the demand, Baticados and her team at LATCH established a Human Milk Community Depot at a volunteer’s home, where they conduct online screening of both human milk donors and recipients and breastfeeding counseling for the recipient families.
LATCH has also partnered with the Provincial Government of Laguna and the University of the Philippines Los Baños to establish the first community-engaged human milk bank in the province to further scale their efforts. Their goal is to mobilize the LGUs, health care workers, and communities to prepare for and handle infant and young child feeding in emergencies.
Advancing Advocacy with an AIM Degree
A series of fortunate events led Baticados to apply at AIM. After LATCH signed a tripartite agreement for the milk bank and secured grant funding for capacity building from Women’s Rights, Action and Advocacy Project, she decided that enrolling in the Master in Development Management (MDM) program would equip her to better implement projects for the year 2022 and beyond. Baticados sent in her online application to the MDM program, gathering all the necessary requirements despite the difficulties resulting from COVID restrictions. The success following her initial application and admission into both the MDM program and the Asian Development Bank-Japan Scholarship Program (ADB-JSP) solidifies her belief that pursuing MDM was “God’s provision”. As an ADB-JSP scholar, Baticados Baticados was drawn to the MDM program’s practitioner-oriented focus. “Good intentions are not enough. Our actions should not only be passion-driven, but also evidence-based,” she says. The MDM curriculum equips graduates with the aptitude, creativity, and adaptability to solve complex and pressing real-world problems.
She urges future students and impact leaders to focus on transforming the way they view leadership. “We should always measure our impact by the lives we serve and how we add value to them,” she says.
Students like Baticados enroll in the Master in Development Management program to evolve into leaders who bridge social divides and help communities flourish through sustainable and inclusive development initiatives. The Master in Development Management is an impact leadership program where students go through a rigorous academic journey and meaningful skills development. The program develops leaders who can scale social impact through social entrepreneurship, transformative policy implementation, and impact-first investing. If you would like to learn more about the program, visit https://go.aim.edu/aboutmdm or send an email to mdm@aim.edu.
[i] World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action, “Breastfeeding: A Key to Sustainable Development UNICEF and WHO joint message for World Breastfeeding Week 2016”, http://waba.org.my/archive/breastfeeding-a-key-to-sustainable-development-unicef-world-breastfeeding-week-2016-message/
