Participatory Water and Sanitation Resources Inventory and Assessment in a Rural Community
Apolonio T. Jimenez, Pedrito Guevarra and Lyn N. Capistrano
Philippine Center for Water and Sanitation – ITN Foundation
Philippine Center for Water and Sanitation – ITN Foundation (www.itnphil.org.ph) engages communities in participatory water and sanitation resources inventory and assessment (PWSRIA). The process involves making a map of the locality, doing a transect walk, engaging in focus group discussions and practical analysis with the community. Data obtained from the PWSRIA are used as bases for intervention planning, technology selection and design, and longer-term considerations and recommendations. Findings and other relevant information gathered with the local people are presented in a community assembly, validated and processed in a discussion session. In view of the findings from the PWSRIA, the PCWS-ITNF engineers then present and explain to the community the various feasible water supply and sanitation technology options in the local context to enable the community to make informed choices, undertake collective agreements and make decisions.
The PWSRIA process allows the community to select the most appropriate low-cost water supply and sanitation technology options they would like to implement as their demonstration projects. It leads to action planning and other related activities that will follow. Aside from water supply and sanitation, the PWSRIA is able to tackle with the community deeper issues of change, empowerment and power relations. PWSRIA is part of interrelated activities of a bigger effort combining policy recommendation, awareness raising, capacity building, hygiene promotion, and strengthening partnerships to ensure access to potable water and improved sanitation in a community.
Profile:
APOLONIO T. JIMENEZ is the Deputy Executive Director of the Philippine Center for Water and Sanitation – ITN Foundation (PCWS-ITNF). He is a licensed civil engineer. Apol has been with PCWS-ITNF since 2002. Prior to joining PCWS-ITNF, he has worked as Municipal Engineer in South Ubian, Tawi-Tawi and as an Engineer of the Department of Public Works and Highways in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi. He has also worked as Appraiser, and later as Development Management Officer III at the Bases Conversion Development Authority.
Apol is a skilled trainer and resource person on designing, building, operating and maintaining low-cost water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) technologies such as rainwater harvesting, spring water development, ram pump water supply system, wastewater treatment, biogas digester septic tanks, filtration and disinfection systems such as roughing filters, sand filters, iron removal filters. He has done water supply technical feasibility studies for various communities and non-government organizations in the Philippines.
Apol currently manages a project in Sulu and Tawi-Tawi among water stressed communities. Previously, Apol served as project manager in the Community-Managed Potable Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene Project (CP-WASH) with the Department of Agrarian Reform in 29 communities from 2008 to 2012. He also served as project manager in the Rainwater Harvesting for Drinking Water Supply of 10 Municipalities and 10 Water Scarce Small Island Communities in Tawi-Tawi Province from 2006 to 2008.
Apol is active in the following professional organizations: Society for the Conservation of Philippine Wetlands, Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers, and WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) Coalition Pilipinas.
Some of the trainings, conferences and workshops that Apol attended include the following:
1. 2nd International Conferences on Ecological Sanitation held on April 7 – 11, 2003 in Lubeck, Germany
2. Specialized Training Course on Water Safety Plan held at ITN Centre, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh on November 12 – 14, 2007
3. Regional Workshop on Cost Analysis of Drinking Water Supply Options for Low Income Communities, held in Khon Kaen, Thailand, 3 – 6 March 2008
4. Second Inter-regional Workshop on Costing Methods of Improved Drinking Water Systems for Low-income Communities, held in Luang Prabang, Lao PDR, 29 – 31 October 2008
5. 2nd International Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Conference, held at the Seagull Hotel, Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh, 11 – 18 November 2008.
Lyn Capistrano (Click Here)
Presentation Slides
Thank you for not plagiarizing. Support us by properly citing the title, author, and seminar (SGRA 16th Sustainable Shared Growth Seminar, "The Urban-Rural Gap and Sustainable Shared Growth", August 23, 2013, College of Engineering, University of the Philippines)