Start Date: 2009-11-10

Completion Date: 2010-03-30

Technology Used:

Access to safe water by all citizens is a basic human right and provision of safe water is the responsibility of the LGUs. Due to overstretched financial resources and lack of qualified technicians, civil society must be engaged and empowered technologically to alleviate the stress. The presence of a local hub for water resource expertise or Water PODS (People Offering Deliverable Services) must be stable, sustainable and run by its own citizens.

This project is focused on technology implementation and the creation of a local Water PODS in Indatuan, Northern Kabuntalan that can manage and maintain a fee-based water service project to ensure community ownership and self-reliance.

Technology Implementation:
The water system will protect and develop the artesian well and pipe water approximately 350 meters to a small ferro cement storage tank (3,000liters) with multiple tapstands close to the tank and would supply 60 households (360 people). A Single Drop for SafeWater and United Youth for Peace And Development (UNYPAD) will build the capacity of the barangay (village) members to build and maintain the water system. The community members will work together to build the tank, dig the trenches and lay pipe. Members of the Water PODS and UNYPAD, through hands-on training, will build the ferro cement tank and install the pipes and tapstands.

Also low cost water testing will be introduced for the testing of biological contamination during the WIn process. It will be institutionalized to monitor water sources.

Organizational Capacity Building:
ASDSW through mentorship of UNYPAD will help mobilize community leaders in and members in Indatuan who will be members of the Water PODS. They will undergo an intensive organizational and business development training that will result in the formation of a fee-based water service project that is community owned and managed, with local government support. PODS members will develop a sustainable community service with affordable fee structures, design and conduct customized WASH Education campaigns, conduct regular water tests, maintain and manage their own community water system, and create a 3-year WASH Plan. The PODS will have the foundation of a water service organization that can scale up their services in the near future, i.e. implementation of sanitation and toilets etc.

History of the Project:
ASDSW creates Water PODS (People Offering Deliverable Services) all over the Philippines. Currently, there are 15 Water PODS in the Philippines offering services including, fee based community water systems and biosand water filter micro-businesses. 100% are registered associations in the Philippines and have implemented technologies. Three of four of the water system PODS are fully implemented and collecting fees. More than half the BSF PODS are income-generating and one of the nine BSF PODS are conducting technology trainings.

We work at two levels; Local Water PODS and Regional Water PODS. Building capacity at the local and regional level fosters local expertise, ensures cultural appropriateness and supports community ownership through demand driven strategies.

Local Water PODS: We work at the local level with villages to create Water PODS who partner with the BLGU that implement and maintain a water service/business in their communities.

Regional Water PODS: And on another level, we work with the MLGU and Peoples Organizations as well as local Non-Profit Organizations to build their capacity to create local Water PODS.

This project implementation builds the capacity of both the Local Water PODS in Indatuan and Regional Water PODS in North Kabuntalan. The local PODS will offer a sustainable water service in their community.

UNYPAD, the Regional Water PODS, will be mentored through the process of creating a local Water PODS, community organizing, and training and implementing an appropriate technology. UNYPAD has already undergone several capacity building trainings in the last 2 years with ASDSW including the following

1) How to conduct Water Inventory (WIn) Surveys in local communities
2) Offer WASH Education and Analysis to create a participatory Community WASH Planning process
3) Facilitate the development of a community WASH PLAN
4) Operations and Project Management
5) appropriate water technology transfers

Through this project, both UNYPAD and Indatuan will have increased capacity to implement water projects and UNYPAD can have the ability to replicate the local Water PODS program in the surrounding Northern Kabuntalan Municipality.

A Single Drop for SafeWater (ASDSW), formed by A Single Drop, will be spearheading the project.

Phases:

Community Organization:

The project is designed to have the local PODS to plan and implement their own project from start to finish with ASDSW supervision and management. So community ownership is assured from the beginning.

The Phases indicated in this program support a more expansive program that also builds capacity of the Municipal level WASH Task Force (MWTF). This project is a pilot program using Barangay Indatuan and UNYPAD to create a replicable model to be implemented Municipal-wide by UNYPAD, MWTFs and other local NGOs. We have included it to indicate the breadth of the program, how the Indatuan PODS fits into the municipal plan, as well as how the model will be replicated municipality wide.

Phase 1 - Formation of a Municipal WASH Task Force (MWTF) by Executive Order. This body is made up of officials from the LGU to focus on all WASH projects in the municipality as a whole.

Phase 2: Formation of an Interim Water and Sanitation Association (WSA) in a target barangay (Indatuan) to implement, administer and operate WASH services in the community. This is a peoples organization from the community that partners with the MWTF in providing these services. This would be done through a General Assembly of community members.

Phase 3: Using Barangay Indatuan as a pilot barangay a WASH Inventory (WIn) will be done. This is a combination of household interviews, Focal Group Dialogues and ocular inspections to determine the situation and resources available as well as issues that will affect sustainability of the program. This is done by the MWTF and WSA facilitated by ASDSW and UNYPAD. Both bodies will be given on the job training so it can be replicated in other barangays to form an overall WASH Situationer and resource map.

Phase 4: ASDSW/UNYPAD will conduct a WASH Analysis workshop and facilitate a WASH Planning Process for Barangay Indatuan

Phase 5: PODS members identified and mobilized in the community. Begin the design process and implementation of the water system

Phase 6: PODS Training and Organizational Development which includes visioning, business planning, accounting, WASH education and outreach, social marketing, technology maintenance, organizational management, and organization registration.

Phase 7: Community implements technology

Phase 8: ASDSW/UNYPAD conduct maintenance, repair, follow-up, fee collection, conflict management, monitoring and evaluation with Indatuan PODS

Phase 8: ASDSW/UNYPAD follows up with M&E and will continually monitor the progress of the Indatuan PODS and assist where needed.

Government Interaction:

As the members of the Water PODS are mobilized, LGU officials are always engaged and included in the program. It is crucial for a project such as this, which is offering services that by right, should be offered by the LGU, have political will behind it to ensure success. LGU officials will have positions in the PODS, but not hold a voting majority in the decision-making. An MOU between the local PODS and LGU will guarantee the recognition of the PODS to be the decision-making and management entity of the water service project.

This strategy also fosters a working relationship between the PODS and the LGU. The PODS will work with the LGU to allocate more funding towards future Wat/San development as laid out in the WASH Plan that was developed at the beginning of this process. We have seen that through this process in our other PODS, more LGUs have begun to redirect their government funding towards WASH Projects because of the success of the implementation of a water service and the organization's capacity to maintain it.

Ancillary activities:

As mentioned above, ASDSW will be working with UNYPAD to build their capacity as trainers and implementers as well as community organizers. Our goal is to support their development as a Regional Water PODS that can act as consultants and trainers in their region, hired by their local governments to become self-reliant.

Members of the local Water PODS will gain skills in business development, WASH education as social marketing, vocational activities and technology implementation.

Other Issues:

The trainings will be provided by a partnership between 2 local Non-Profit Organizations that have worked together developing this approach over the last two years
A Single Drop for Safe Water inc. (ASDSW) is a nationwide organization that works formed by A Single Drop (ASD) with WASH technologies and organizational development for the long term stability of these programs. Their role is
- Project management
- Coaching and on the Job Training for all aspects of the implementation

Under the supervision and guidance of ASDSW, United Youth for Peace And Development (UNYPAD) is a local organization for the implementation of various programs.
- On site facilitation of all trainings
- Monitoring and Evaluation
- Logistics and community liaison