Communities

 

Sitio Monicayo

Community Profile

Total No. of Families : 170

Average Family Size : 6

Shares a Home with Other Families : 35%

Households with Children Under 5 Years Old : 50%

 

 

Sitio Monicayo is an indigenous peoples (IP) community located in Barangay Calumpang, Mabalacat City, Pampanga in Central Luzon, Philippines. It is composed of around 130 households or around 630 residents. Due to migration and intermarriages, the community is a mixture of indigenous persons (the Aetas of North Luzon) and non-indigenous residents.  Prior to the construction of the water facility, residents either used rain water or drew water from a spring located approximately 50 meters from the main road and more than 100 meters from most of the households.

Water access has been made available to Sitio Monicayo in 2016 in partnership with Clark Water Corporation (CWC), a subsidiary of the Manila Water Philippine Ventures (MWPV) in Pampanga, and Clark Development Corporation (CDC), a government-owned and controlled corporation mandated to manage the Clark Freeport Zone.

After the intervention, most of Sitio Monicayo residents now draw water from the facility (85% for drinking; 72% for domestic use). Weekly water consumption for the community is at 131 gallons. Hygiene practices among community members gradually improved and heads of families were able to allot more time for livelihood and other home activities.

Program Strides

The Integrated WASH Program in Sitio Monicayo has two major milestones: the roll-out of its behavioral change communication (BCC) campaign, and the launch of its sanitation phase.

Water Access

By the end of the year, its Water Group was able to deliver 10,544.44 m³ of water for domestic use by its community members with a total of 26 capacity-building hours through a series of learning sessions and hands-on workshops.

 

Category	Title of Training	Date	Number of Hours	Number of Participants
Technical	Meter Tapping	March 23	4	6
	Meter Reading	April 22	2	11
	Groundwater Contamination	July 26	2.5	14
	Safe Drinking Water and Chlorination Dosing	July 31	3	10
	Used Water Treatment	December 6	2	12
Values Formation	Personality Compass (Water Group)	May 24	2	12
	Personality Compass (Sanitation Group)	June 7	2	7
	TNA – Top 5 Values	August 17	2	16
	Leadership Training	September 7	2	11
	Matibay ang Loob (Positibong Pananaw)	September 25	2	14
	Nakikibagay/Nakikiisa	October 19	2	14
	Matapat	November 16	2	11
	Handwashing Learning Session	December 19	2	35

 

The community’s Water Group was able to earn P370,357 from water collections in 2019 which will be used for the sustainability of the water system.

 

 

Sanitation

Following the improvement of water access, the Foundation gradually transitioned to moving towards addressing open defecation (OD) and promoting sanitation and hygiene in the community.

Essential to the success of the sanitation campaign is understanding the sanitation context and conditions in the community through comprehensive surveys. Through a baseline survey, it was found that 20% of the total households are sharing toilets with their relatives, which posed daily inconveniences, such as lack of privacy and accessibility. Moreover, about 20% of the households are found to be practicing open defecation. It was also found that the following factors affect the community’s perception towards sanitation:

1. Access to Information - Information on proper human excreta disposal are not readily available.

2. Beliefs - Community members believe that used water from their toilets are absorbed and filtered by the ground.

3. Gender - Females and children tend to find other alternatives to ensure safety in defecating and avoid embarrassment while males are more “accepting” of this practice.

4. Financial Constraints – The lack of budget is the main reason why households do not have their own toilets.

5. Abilities - Almost half of the respondents without toilets expressed intent to contribute in the construction, by providing sweat equity or physical work.

With these results, the Foundation rolled out a behavioral change communication (BCC) campaign that will be beneficial in the promotion of proper sanitation in the community. In May 2019, a BCC survey was conducted to thoroughly understand the context of the residents, their perceptions on WASH, and their preferences on information sources.

Through the BCC Survey, three materials were identified as effective BCC materials: a bulletin board, a story book, and a jingle.

Two bulletin boards were installed to raise awareness and engagement on WASH in the community. The bulletin boards were strategically placed near the elementary school and by the community chapel to attract more viewers.

 

Apart from the bulletin boards, a WASH storybook was also developed in partnership with local publishing company Adarna House. The storybook aims to generate awareness on the current WASH conditions of marginalized communities and the role of community participation in empowerment.

Lastly, a jingle that aims to generate support on WASH through music was produced in September 2019. The song describes the importance of having clean water, proper sanitation and good hygiene practices in our daily lives.

 

These BCC materials served as key milestones of the Integrated WASH program in Sitio Monicayo, which will help communicate the advocacies of the program more effectively.

To ensure sustainability of the sanitation efforts in the community, a Sanitation Group has been organized, with 45 toilet-less households enjoying individual toilet facilities beginning the end of 2019. The households now enjoy privacy and convenience as they use these enclosed stand-alone infrastructures that has individual septic tanks for proper waste management.

Milestones

Sanitation for Sitio Monicayo, Barangay Calumpang, Mabalacat City, Pampanga

• Capability-Building of Water Group : Year-Round
• Creation of Vision, Mission and Goals of Water Group : March 2019
• Policy Review for Operations & Maintenance : April 2019
• Sanitation BCC (Behavioral Change Communication) Campaign Survey : May 2019
• Formation & TNA of Sanitation Group : June 2019
• BCC (Behavioral Change Communication) Campaign Roll Out : July - August 2019
• Development of BCC Materials : September 2019
• Watering Points Rehabilitation with WASH Volunteerism Day : October 2019
• Launch of Sanitation Phase with 45 Toilets for Construction : November 2019

Behavioral Change Communication (BCC) Materials - February 2020 Launching

• WASH Jingle : Bayang May Kalinga
• WASH Storybook : May Tubig na Si Tinay

 

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Sapang Uwak

Community Profile

Total No. of Families : 423

Average Family Size : 6

Shares a Home with Other Families : 25%

Households with Children Under 5 Years Old : 48%

 

Barangay Sapang Uwak is an Indigenous Peoples (IP) community of Aeta residents located along the slopes of Mount Catuno, east of Mt. Pinatubo in Porac, Pampanga. According to the Porac Rural Health Unit (2018), the community is occupied by 423 families. The barangay has six (6) sitios, namely Sentro, Babo, Relocation, Banaba, Maligaya, and Riverside, and has

 

The Integrated WASH project in Barangay Sapang Uwak was put forward through a discussion with Former House Speaker and Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. In June 2018, the project commenced with a construction of a springbox, development and rehabilitation of a total of 12-kilometer water systems, three water tanks in the community. The construction continued with 13 common watering points installed located in Sitio Babo, Centro, Maligaya, and Relocation. Three tanks were also installed in Sapang Uwak Elementary School and Centro.

 

Program Strides

In 2019, the water access journey of the community continued. Community members were organized into a Water Group, a set of individuals who will be responsible for the operations, maintenance and oversight of the water facilities in the area. The officers of the Water Group are selected through an election process held every two (2) years, and are composed of the President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer.

 

To ensure the sustainability of the water system in the community, a series of capacity-building activities were conducted with the Water Group. The capacity building activities were divided into two types: Values formation, a reinforcement of the values that are important to the community, and technical training, educating the water group on the proper operation and maintenance of the water facilities.

 

Category	Title of Activity	Date	Number of Hours	Number of Participants
Values Formation	Community Aspirations	April 16	3	11
	Training Needs Analysis (Top 5 Values)	July 5	2	12
	Water Group Aspirations	July 12	3	12
	Leadership Training	July 20	3	16
	Positibong Pananaw	August 1	3	13
	Nakikibagay o Pakikipag-Kapwa Tao	September 7	1.5	14
	Masistema	September 21	1.5	8
	Matapat	October 19	2	11
	Tagapamagitan	November 16	2	11
Technical Training	Learning Session on Treatment of Water	October 3	2	7

Integrated WASH Program