The Barangay Environmental Sanitation Plan (BESP) offers a planning process and tool that local communities can use to identify and decide on water and sanitation improvements that their local government units would be willing to finance. BESP is a component of the Water Districts Development Project. Using the BESP process, a community first develops an investment plan to improve its water supply system, waste disposal facilities, solid waste collection, or neighborhood drainage. The community and its LGU then form a partnership to co-own and co-manage the operation and maintenance of the project. The LGU plays a vital role through its decision to finance investments in non-financially viable barangays. BESP uses a bottom-up, community-driven participatory approach by involving users and stakeholders in planning, implementation, operation, and management. The program assures community decision-making and promotes community acceptance, commitment, and responsibility for the project. It also provides capacity building for long-term development. Because the community is an active partner, the process guarantees maximum reliance on available resources that is, at costs that the community can afford. It also shifts responsibility for management and operation from the national level to local authorities who are ultimately responsible for the success of their projects. The province of Palawan is one of the pilots for the BESP, under the Water Districts Development Project. Development of tourism—considered Palawan's greatest asset—is dependent upon 430 barangays each developing and preserving their own unique tourist attractions. Among other things, this requires the barangays ensure that visitors have access to clean water and sanitation facilities. All members of the community—women, men, poor, rich, young, old, educated, uneducated, tribal/indigenous groups, professionals—are involved in every step: the survey of the site, community mapping, identification of water sources and proposed locations for facilities, design of facilities, and setting of the price of water and sanitation fees. With the support of BESP, barangays in Palawan have been able to assure that their communities, households, small cottages, and hotels enjoy clean and reliable water supply and a sewerage system that minimizes the impact on the sea and the beaches. This has contributed to an increase in the number of tourist arrivals in Palawan. Other examples of Islands of Good Governance at the Local Level:
 A City that is Gaining an International Reputation
Promoting Poverty Reduction in Tandem with Natural Resource Management in Small Communities Related:
Supporting Islands of Good Governance at the National Level
Supporting Islands of Good Governance at the Private Sector Level More information:
Water Districts Development Project (WDDP)
Active World Bank-assisted Projects in the Philippines   |
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