CENTRAL VISAYAS WATER & SANITATION PROJECT An
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822 PHVI 96 CENTRAL VISAYAS WATER & SANITATION PROJECT An Australia/Philippines Development Cooperation Project JJ*. •r m n Agency f bri|^pg;,cfcancr"water, better sanitation and stronger communitlS to the people of the Philippines. //i ill- 'f; t " ''; "*, Jmi <"!!!;;•• tin- A JOINT PROJECT OF ""'* • • / '•••. AusAID . >K (THE AuSTRAIi|^I:«4|@ENCY"is6R INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT) 4f ;;;! =; , ' AND THE ' « GOWRNMENT OF THE PHILIPPINES If you visited the central Philippines town of Ubay two 'Sustainability' has become the holy grail in this quest. years ago you may have found it. easier to get hold of a Unless the water and sanitation systems set up under these can of Coke than a glass of water to quench your thirst. bilateral projects are sustainable in the long term, they Ubay, like many of its neighbouring rural communi- will not achieve their key goals of improving the health, ties, relied on travelling carts and shallow wells for its living conditions and economic status of poorer commu- water needs, accepting the gruelling shortage of clean nities. water as a long-standing tradition. The Central Visayas Water and Sanitation Project is It is hardly surprising, then, that the Mayor of Ubay pioneering a method which seeks sustainability through now becomes noticeably excited when it comes to the a very h igh level of community consultation and involve- subject of water. "People are taking showers and ment. planting trees", he says. "The arrival of the Central For some time now the traditional practice of leav- Visayas Water and Sanitation Project has been the ing control of development projects in the hands of catalyst for all kinds of changes in Ubay." engineers has been widely superseded by a 'bottom-up' As the Year 2000 approaches - the target date for the approach, where technical specialists are closely involved United Nations 'dean water for all' policy - water and with the local community. With greater consultation, sanitation projects throughout the developing world are the new systems are more likely to meet the needs of grappling with the problems of devising systems suited the communities being serviced and the communities to local communities. are better equipped to look after them. LIBRARY IRC lox 93190, 2509 AD T"H£ HA3UE lei.:+31 70 30 Fax: +31 70 35 89! ARCODE: O: The Central Visayas Water and Sanitation Project, the project team have been found to fit into the pro- a joint initiative of the Australian Government and cesses of decentralisation and devolution. the Government of the Philippines, is taking the idea It may take several years after the completion of the of community partnership one step further. Not only Project to assess whether the new systems are truly sus- do the communities targeted by the Project, help plan tainable. But early indicators arc highly positive and and construct their new water and sanitation systems, the Philippines Government has acknowledged this by they also become the owners of the systems through taking the unusual step of increasing funding above the the formation of community waterworks cooperatives. level of Australia's aid contribution (at a ratio of about. Known as Community-Based Water and Sanitation 55% to Australia's 45%) for the water supply construc- Organisations, these cooperatives are owned by the tion component of the project. This Philippine users of the water. Their primary goal is to provide an contribution from national, provincial and municipal adequate supply of domestic water for the use of mem- governments as well as from individual congressmen is bers at. a reasonable cost. And through their secondary in addition to contributions from the recipient projects, access to water can become a springboard to a communities. range of improvements from health training to liveli- In the villages and towns targeted by the Project, hood projects which bring economic growth. the contribution of the communities and local govern- This community-based approach to development, has ment personnel is also impressive. Whether it's been reinforced by the implementation of the 1991 organising a dance to raise funds for new latrines or Local Government Code which has empowered local community tree planting to protect water sources, the government units to make their own decisions over is- people of the Philippines arc demonstrating increasing sues affecting the communities. While time has been support for the new systems. needed to perfect the process, the systems installed by THE PLAYERS • Scheduled to run from 1991 to 1997, the Central Visayas Water and Sanitation Project is jointly funded by the Australian Government (A$ 21.5 million, including A$ 7.5 million for water supply facilities) and the Government of the Philip- pines (A$ 10 million lor water supply facilities). • The Australian Agency for Inter- national Development (AusAID) has contracted leading Australian environmental consultants Sinclair Knight Merz, in association with DCCD Engineering Corporation of the Philippines, to guide all staff working on the Project and adminis- ter Australian funded inputs. CVWSP Technical Working Croup presided over by CVWSP Project Manager, Fernando Fajardo. • The Philippines Government: has barangay levels. A key goal is to community organising. Their work is created a Project Management: Unit, improve the skills of local govern- initially supervised by the Project: based in Cebu City, to supervise the ment staff in the areas of planning, advisers, with local government: implementation of the Project in project implementation, community units gradually raking on. more of coordination with project: consul- organising and health education. this responsibility as their personnel tants and other agencies involved. become more experienced. A total of • NGOs are selected by Sinclair fifteen, different NGOs have provided • A field team of Australian and Knight. Mer.z and local Philippine community organising services for Filipino advisers funded by the authorities to assist in planning and CVWSP. Australian Government and selected by the. consultants is working closely with the Philippines Government Project Management m Unit and with government person- nel at the provincial, municipal and Rainwater collector construction inspected byM&E Specialist, dun David; Community Organising Specialist, Rudy Caayupan; AusAID Counsellor, Ian Anderson and Bohol Engineer Planner, Keith Roberts, The heartland of the Project is the plans and manage their own fishing and farming 'barangays' of the development. central Philippines. Here, for many Before the Project began, about households, clean water is a luxury 40 per cent of the rural popula- and sanitation facilities are poor or tion in the Central Visayas had non-existent. inadequate water supplies and These barangays lie within the about. 30 per cent had unsatisfac- Central Visayas, a group of four island provinces (Bohol, tory sanitation facilities or none at all. The aim was to Cebu, Negros Oriental and Siquijor) which are home choose those municipalities with the poorest health, to about 4.5 million people - three quarters of them lowest, incomes and least, access to potable water. living in rural areas and the majority working as farm- About one quarter of the municipalities in the ers, fishermen and plantation workers. Central Visayas arc being targeted, with the hope that Clusters of five to ten households form the pulse this will produce a substantial flow-on effect as other points of the community in the rural barangays. They municipalities draw on the new capabilities introduced may border the village square with its chapel, barangay into their region and attract local funding to set up hall, elementary school and rural clinic, or lie beside similar projects. the sea coast where the fishermen and their families Within these targeted municipalities some 10,000 make a living, or by the riverside where farmers divert, households (.38%) will be directly served by new the water by canal to the local farms. or improved water systems, about 24,000 households Foremost in the minds of the Project's community (1.3%) will benefit from improved sanitation organisers who walk the trails of the barangays are facilities, and some 400 community-based water and questions on how best to harness the capacities of the sanitation organisations will be formed to manage and people to identify community needs, formulate action operate the systems. STEPS IN THE PROJECT • The community organisers help METHOD establish community-based water arid sanitation organisations (CBWSOs) which will own and operate the comple- • Municipalities are chosen to partici- ted water supply systems. This requires pate on the basis of their level oj need intensive organising and training to for improved water and sanitation, the develop in the. rural communities the availability of useable water, and the knowledge, skills and attitudes to level oj amimunity interest in taking become self'Sufficient. part. • Community organisers help local • Ccn\struction of the. larger systems is • Once a municipality and its barangays communities develop their own water carried out by contract or by direct have been selected, a project team and supply and sanitation plans. Proposals administration of labour. Contractors an N(J(.) organise meetings to explain are prepared for each small water supply, are. required to use unskilled labour the Project and enlist the support of the including sketches and cost estimates from the. community wliere the job is community and local government where possible, together with an indica- located, personnel. tion of what labour and materials the community is prepared to commit. • For small systems, contracts are • The NGO, through its community normally arranged for drilled wells and organisers, develops a profile of each * The proposals are prioritised by the. other specialised components but, as far barangay including details of its water community then assessed by provincial as possible, the local community is resources, health and sanitation engineering staff, ami an agreed jrrogram encouraged to carry out the construc- conditions, and demographics, and is drawn up. Wherever feasible the tion.