Water & Sanitation for Bohol

WOPD, an umbrella for 12 local member organizations (325 women active members), is well organised in all the communities that will be part of the project “Water and sanitation for Bohol. The inhabitants of the barangays will take responsibility for the implementation of the project. WOPD is responsible for the money and justify her help in the General Assemble.

Goals overview

1. Sustainable access to safe drinking water for 2800 people (incl. 1500 children) and access to water in day-care centre and hygienic sanitation, through the construction of 4 drinking water schemes (inc. tanks) & 3 pilot ecosan toilets.
2. Water resource management for 12 local women’s organisations.
3. Women get more time to spend on food production and income generating activities: palay trading, piggery.
4. Income generation means less migration of daughters for working in Manila or abroad.

Current status

Water situation:
Longon: a small reservoir for 100 families, 7-9 months not water enough, day care centre not connected.
Pansul: the number of inhabitants has rapidly increased and the demand for drinking water exceeds the capacity of the reservoir.
Carahan: The well is 475 m uphill. For senior citizens it is difficult to get there. There is no water reservoir near the day-care centre.
Lantay: the water reservoir is situated near the well and can be reached by a walk uphill and downhill.
Sanitation situation:
In the villages are some pit latrines. The two day-care centres do not have working sanitation systems.

Project plan

Rural Project
WOPD is working in a rural environment. Bohol has 48 municipalities and 1114 barangays. The average population growth is 2,9 %. In 2004 the total number of inhabitants in Bohol was projected at 1.236.094. More than 60% of the population work in agriculture. The number of households living below the poverty line is 47,5 %. The farm and non-farm labourers depend on seasonal employment for their subsistence and livelihood. Development is hampered by limited and poor quality irrigation, low values of crops, poor soil and inadequate technical inputs. This target groups is adversely affected by vagaries of weather.

Guindulman municipality has a total land area of 126 square kilometres with a total population of 30.911 citizens The number of households is estimated at 5911 households divied over 19 barangays. Guindulman is part of the watershed areas of Cao-ud river and the Lumbay river. The 6 coastal barangays depend for their water on groundwater wells and the other barangays get water from wells in the upland area.

Strategy to reach people and be effective:
WOPD is well organised in all the communities that will be part of the project “Water and sanitation for Bohol. The inhabitants of the barangays will take responsibility for the implementation of the project. WOPD is responsible for the money and justify her help in the General Assemble. In 2007 both Agriterra and ZijActief Noord-Zuid-Holland have planned a mission to WOPD to monitor the implementation and conduct a mid term review.

Ownership facilities:
The traditional kinship organization of the barangay had maintained the communal use of land. The legal owner of the facilities will be the barangay represented by the barangay captain. The barangay captain has to give authorize the use of land for constructing a water reservoir and to stand in for the maintenance of the water reservoir. If there are problems with WOPD and the barangay captain, the city Guindulman, in person of the counsellor, head of barangay captains, will be the mediator, and in case of emergency he can force the barangay captain to cooperate. In 2007 WOPD will consult a public notary special for asking the legal rules about ownership and how to make a written agreement between WOPD, the water committee and the barangay captains. Eco sanitation is a new facility and will be spoken too for now as a public service and for in the future in the households.

Project implementation:
4 water systems, including tanks and 3 pilot ecosan toilets will be constructed. Water resource management training will be given to 12 local women’s organisations.

Operator facilities:
The operator will be the water committee in the community. All the barangays have a water committee, selected by the residents with men and women. The water committee is related to the board of the community. Most of the women of the water committee are also a member of the local women organization. If there is a water problem the water committee is going to the barangay captain. The relationship between each other is based on traditional rules. Till now there isn’t a written agreement between the barangay captain and the water committee. WOPD will consult a public notary to talk about a written agreement. The staff of WOPD will support the water committees.

Responsible for operation and maintenance:
Regulated by law the barangay captain is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the facilities

Participation of beneficiaries:
The participants and beneficiaries are involved in the water committees. The women in the water committees are members of the local women organisation and WOPD. The staff of WOPD will support them , even when there are problems.

Role applicant organisations:
The role of WOPD is: to facilitate the implementation of the project Water and sanitation for Bohol. The WOPD staff members carry full responsibility for managing the project budget according to the approved project document. They will support the water committees in the barangays and the local WOPD branches with the actual implementation. Whenever problems arise WOPD will look for solutions and take initiatives to mediate in disputes. The contribution of WOPD to the Trainings costs is Euro 500. The role of ZijActief Noord en Zuid-Holland is to give support by monitoring the project through annual visits to the project area and reporting on the status of the project. Agriterra contributes to the monitoring costs of the project as well as ZijActief during monitoring missions, which totals to Euro 8800.

WfWP Seed money (Euro 1616) has been used for the preparation phase of the project.

Relevant experience:
WOPD and ZijActief Noord en Zuid-Holland have gained ample experience in setting up and implementing day-care centers and multipurpose centers. They have had to deal with issues like ownership of the land, obtaining building permissions, and the actual building itself. Contacts with the barangay captains have developed over time as they carry the responsibility for paying the salaries of the teachers and covering the costs for the maintenance of the day-care centres. The relationship between WOPD and the barangay captains is based on mutual respect. WOPD has more recently –since two years – gained experience with business planning and micro-credit issues. There is no specific experience within WOPD with regard to WASAN but for this purpose WOPD has entered into a partnership with the GTZ Water & Sanitation Programme Bohol.

Other Results:

Changes for up scaling and replication
WOPD has by the beginning of the project 12 local member organisations. There are a number of possibilities for up-scaling and replication. As mentioned before the Province of Bohol has a program for information and implementation of eco-sanitation. If WOPD succeeds to promote personal and environmental hygiene and demonstrate the benefits of eco-sanitation through the WOPD pilot eco-toilets, it is realistic to expect that their number will grow rapidly in the project area. The cooperation with GTZ can also be developed and extended to other barangays. WOPD as a federation can show to authorities how important it is to support community initiatives with respect to safe water and sanitation. WOPD can use its knowledge and experience gained through this project to set-up a program for advocacy and lobby for safe drinking water.

WOPD knows that access to safe drinking water is necessary, especially for the development and the health of the children. In Bohol it is the women’s responsibility to collect water for their own household and for the households of senior citizens in the community. WOPD concentrated on Capacity development of women by involving them as equal partners in the water & sanitation project an on promotion of gender equality and empower women by improving access to safe drinking water and sanitation. It is important to note here that all these women actively influence community life and most of the livelihood projects of the women have upgraded life in the whole community. Teachers of the day-care centres take notice of the water-supply problem especially when they learn children hygienic principle rules. If there is access to safe drinking water the women spares time and the children can get hygienic training.

Responsible for the operation and maintenance is the barangays captain of the community. The operator will be the water committee of the community. Maintenance costs will be paid of the proceeds of the water bill. WOPD will facilitate the implementation of the project. WOPD staff members take full responsibility of managing the project budget according to the approved project document. They will support the water committees in the barangays.

ZijActief gives support by monitoring the implementation of the project by annual visits and reporting on the status of the project. GTZ is responsible for the technical part of the implementation of the project. The participants and beneficiaries are involved in the water committees. The women in the water committees are members of the local women organization and WOPD. The staff of WOPD will support them, even when there are problems. The water committees review every year the price each family has to pay for water. Senior pays less. The water committee collect the money every month. The water committee is also responsible for cleaning the environment of the water reservoir. For eco –sanitation: it will be a change to show how you can use faeces as a fertilizer. That’s better then pesticides.

WOPD has 12 member organizations and is still growing. In 2009 there are already 17 member organizations. There are a number of possibilities for upscaling and replication. The province of Bohol has a program for information and implementation of eco-sanitation. If WOPD succeeds to promote personal and environmental hygiene and demonstrate the benefits of eco-sanitation through the pilot eco-toilets, it is realistic to expect that their number will grow rapidly in the project area. The cooperation with GTZ can also be developed and extended to other barangays. WOPD can use the knowledge and experience gained through this project to set up a program for advocacy and lobbying for safe drinking water.