THROUGH an innovative funding scheme, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and its partners recently installed 100 sanitary toilets that will benefit 500 people in Sagay City, Negros Occidental and Alabel, Sarangani.
USAID has worked with global-development company DAI, microfinancing institution ASA Philippines, the Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation, as well as the local government units (LGUs) of the said areas to build toilets as part of a pilot activity on Output-Based Aid and Blended Finance (OBA-BF). The financing program combines public grants with household equity to fully fund the units.
“OBA-BF, as designed, is an innovative and creative approach to maximize and mobilize resources [to benefit the] poor,” USAID Philippines Acting Mission Director Sean Callahan said as the agency and its partners celebrated the conclusion of the project at ceremonies in Alabel on December 3, and Sagay on December 6.
Callahan said that strong local leadership and the power of similar public-private partnerships will ensure the sustainability of the resources.
In Sagay City, DAI had provided grants to subsidize the cost of septic tanks compliant with the standards of the Philippine Sanitation Code, as households paid for their toilets with microloans from the Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation. In Alabel, grants from DAI and ASA Philippines subsidized the cost of septic tanks, as households funded their toilets through microloans from ASA Philippines.
With the OBA-BF program, around 200 people from 40 households in Sagay City and 300 from 60 households in Alabel now have their own sanitary toilets.
“As a tourist destination, we need to [install] toilets so that the marine reserve can be kept clean,” said Sagay City Mayor Alfredo Marañon III. “While there’s slow activity from tourism, it’s high time we built these facilities for the people.”
For his part, Alabel Municipal Mayor Vic Salarda said that the grants from OBA-BF enabled low-income households to have their own sanitary toilets: “This will be of big help in improving sanitation in our communities.”
USAID aims to expand this scheme to other local government units in the country, particularly in Palawan, Negros Occidental and Sarangani.
The aid agency harnesses the power of multisectoral collaboration to provide safe sanitation services to the underserved through innovative schemes like the OBA-BF. According to the US Embassy, around 6 million Filipinos do not have access to sanitary toilets, while some 4 million still resort to open defecation. This lack of adequate facilities poses risks of waterborne diseases for communities, and leads to contamination of freshwater sources.