The Philippines is endowed with abundant water in meeting its water supply needs, expansion of capacity and connecting poor households to the water supply system. Rapid population growth, economic development, urbanization, and industrialization have taken their toll on the country’s water services and resource base. The problem, moreover, extends to other quality of life dimensions: deficiencies in water resource management, water supply and sanitation services, solid waste and wastewater management impact on water quality and people’s health.
Recognizing the gaps and challenges in the sector, the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) and the National Water resources Board (NWRB) initiated a series of workshops and consultations among sector stakeholders (national government agencies, water service providers and non-government organizations) to assess the Philippine water supply sector and identify priority issues for policy and strategy development. In 2007, as part of the long-term advisory services and capacity development activities, the German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ) Water and Sanitation Program provided technical assistance to the Philippine Government in the preparation of a Water Supply Sector Roadmap. The assistance was specifically provided to the various technical working groups (TWGs) established by an Inter-Agency Steering Committee (IASC) led by the NEDA and NWRB. This roadmap for the development of the water supply sector is an output of this engagement and the accompanying processes.
PURPOSE OF THE ROADMAP
The Philippine Water Supply Sector Roadmap is specifically designed to help the country meet the sector’s challenges and intended objectives by 2010 in line with the targets defined by the 2004-2010 MTPDP. In the longer term, this roadmap also aims to help the country meet the sector’s challenge in achieving the MDG goals. Specifically, the Roadmap formulation process aims to:
Promote stakeholder participation in assessing the situation of the water supply sector and in strategic planning and policy development;
Review previous initiatives in the water supply sector;
Articulate a shared vision and formulate goals and objectives;
Formulate feasible strategies for achieving declared objectives, indicate expected outcomes and translate these into program and investment priorities;
Map out program components, sequence of activities and inputs and unit costs and prepare the financial and investment plan;
Identify policy areas that need further research and development;
Define institutional arrangements between and among national and local government agencies and units as well as the role of non-state organizations and institutions;
Define the organizational mechanisms for steering, oversight and management of the proposed programs; and
Define sector monitoring and evaluation process and mechanisms.
This roadmap has been prepared using the Strategic Planning and Management (SPM) tool promoted by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). This tool allows straightforward identification of problems and generation of proposed solutions. It also allows identification of issues at the lowest level through stakeholder participation and mobilization of local experts. Formulation of the roadmap went through a step by step process of input-sharing by stakeholders from within and outside government, all involved in the rigorous sectoral assessment and analysis process.
DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK AND PRINCIPLES
The Roadmap adopts the integrated water resource management (IWRM) framework in sector management. The archipelagic character of the islands and the uneven quality of water resource bases require integrated planning within a decentralized implementation framework. This framework also enables the integration of the water supply sector to the overall social and economic agenda of the nation, and demands the linking of both land and water resources, and the appropriate reconfiguration of governance systems.
The Water Supply Sector Roadmap adopts ten basic principles that respond to the reality that water scarcity and misuse pose a growing threat to sustainable development and the environment:
Principle No. 1 - Fresh water is a finite and vulnerable resource, essential to sustain life, development and the environment
Principle No. 2 - Water development and management should be based on a participatory approach, involving users, planners and policy-makers at all levels
Principle No. 3 - Women play a central part in the provision, management and safeguarding of water
Principle No. 4 - Water has an economic value in all its competing uses and should be recognized as an economic good
Principle No. 5 – Water is a human right and the government has an obligation to respect, protect and fulfill the enjoyment of the right to water.
Principle No. 6 – Water supply provision should be a priority component in poverty reduction programs
Principle No. 7 – Good governance is fundamental to resource and supply management
Principle No. 8 – Water supply provision should be sustainable
Principle No. 9 - Water supply management should be demand responsive
Principle No. 10 – Water supply sector capacity should be developed at all levels
These principles evolved from numerous changes over time. Certainly, understanding the forces that drive or prevent changes is fundamental in shaping the future scenario of the water supply sector.
ROADMAP MILESTONES AND GOALS
The 2025 scenario based on a ‘do nothing’ option is a water crisis with grave consequences to the sustainability of human life and economic activity of the country. It will have specific adverse consequences on wellbeing and human security, economic growth, social trust and the political life of the nation.
Preventing the occurrence of the above scenario means seriously dealing with the roots of the problem, mitigating their current debilitating effects and preventing worst-case scenarios to occur. This requires no less than aiming for the best-case scenario and the overall goal of “access to safe, adequate and sustainable water for all.”
Coherent with the problems and challenges being addressed, this roadmap adopts three major strategies for achieving the declared goals and objectives, namely: Institutional Strengthening, Capacity Development and Strategic Alliance Building .
Strengthening Water Supply Institutions
The PWSS institutional goal projects the following scenario by 2025: Effective policies and institutions with an integrated economic and resource regulatory framework and strong and coordinated national and local structures and mechanisms.
The institutional goal finds relevance in the problem of fragmentation of policies and institutions in the WSS sector and emphasizes the need for synergy between policy settings and institutional arrangements that best facilitate the enforcement and compliance of laws, rules, regulations and guidelines. Good policies become effective policies when they are coherent and integrated and are enforced and backed up by resources and appropriate management instruments. The variety of institutions with segmented mandates and functions at the national and local levels require appropriate mechanisms for effective coordination and collaboration premised on a coherent policy framework.
Capacity Development
The PWSS capacity development goal projects the following scenario by 2025: LGUs adequately capacitated for policy formulation, planning, monitoring, evaluation and fiscal management, WSPs efficiently and financially sustainable and NGAs equipped to provide sustained support services.
This goal projects a best-case scenario against a baseline sector performance characterized by low and skewed coverage (between urban and rural areas), weak local capacity in policy formulation, planning, monitoring, evaluation and fiscal management and inadequate resources of NGAs to sustain support services. The same goal is anchored on a paradigm shift from NGA direct implementation of programs and projects to capacity development at the local level. Likewise, it complements the institutional principle of decentralizing functions and decisions at the lowest level.
Building Strategic Alliances
The PWSS strategic alliance building goal projects the following scenario by 2025: water supply sector nurtured by strong stakeholder participation, multi-actor collaboration and champions in the legislative and executive bodies of national and local government units.
Given the current state of policies and institutional arrangements, no less than creative leadership and strong political support are needed to undertake reforms. The WSS sector is not a conventional sector and the dual trait of water as a public and economic good easily creates tensions in the political dynamics of the nation. Political support is essential to implement water sector reforms. This will only come from a dedicated commitment of political leaders in the executive and legislative branches of government who conscious of the need for strong coordination at all levels. The same leadership should also be mindful of the institutional principle embodied in the Dublin Statement emphasizing the need for stakeholder participation and devolution of actions and decisions to the lowest level.
THE MEDIUM-TERM AGENDA
The PWSS Medium Term Programs are aligned with and complements the declared development goals of the national government as embodied in its commitments to the UN MDGs and its specific goals contained in the 2004-2010 MTPDP. In the medium-term, this Roadmap envisions that:
By 2010, the 432 waterless municipalities in the country shall have graduated to more than 50% access coverage and sustaining utility operations; that existing formal utilities (e.g. water districts) are expanding coverage to un-served areas; and that 60% of water service providers shall have been regulated from the current 40% level.
The roadmap has three medium-term core programs based on the sector strategies, namely, PWSS Institutional Strengthening Program (PWSS-ISP), PWSS Capacity Building Program (PWSS-CBP) and PWSS Strategic Alliance Building Program (PWSS-SABP). All programs are inter-linked and mutually supportive and aggregately support national development goals. In spatial terms, they consider variances in the level and quality of physical and institutional resources. In temporal terms, they take into account current and prospective strengths and opportunities with corresponding accounting of risks and threats.
The three programs address problems of institutional fragmentation in economic and resource management and regulation in the water supply sector, inadequate financial and managerial capacities in water services provision and wastewater management and the need for effective stakeholder participation and multi-actor collaboration. In the medium term, they take into account the national government’s commitments to the UN MDG and the 2004-2010 MTPDP. In the long term, they are orientated towards scenarios emphasizing the need for sustained water supply sector development that is governed by strong institutions, responsive to spiraling and competing demand for water and sanitation services and holistically integrated to the people’s aspiration for national development.
For more information, contact:
The Roadmap Principals
Ruben S. Reinoso Jr.
Assistant Director General
National Economic Development Authority
Telefax No. 631-2192
Email: RSReinoso@neda.gov.ph
Ramon B. Alikpala
Executive Director
National Water Resources Board
Telephone No. 928-2365
Email: rbalikpala@gmail.com
The Roadmap Secretariat:
Coy Roncesvalles
National Economic Development Authority
Tel. No. 631-3724, Fax No. 631- 2192
Email: LKRoncesvalles@neda.gov.ph
Engr. Isidra Peñaranda
National Water Resources Board
Telephone No. 920-2724
Email: idp_nwrb@yahoo.com
