Second Update SWM | Team Maras

Background of the Problem

Water is a basic need and according to the United Nations access to it is also a human right. It is an essential part of daily life and in maintaining good health. Safe water is utilized by humans through sanitation, food production, and hydration. Unsafe drinking water can lead to so many serious health conditions and even death. Every year many people, most especially children, suffer from dehydration and electrolyte imbalances caused by diarrheal diseases. It might be an easily preventable problem, but still many people are seriously affected by this especially those living in poverty-stricken communities where water is considered a luxury. In these areas, water sources are usually communal or public and there is no purification method used for drinking water.

In Barangay Maras, there are a couple of different water sources used by the residents and most of them are communal and are not yet confirmed to be potable. The households situated near the highway get their drinking water from a dug wells with hand pump and a few would buy from the nearby water-refilling station. Some households are connected to the piped spring water system established by the Local Officials but the water is rationed and still limited. Along the highway, an average of 25-30 households share 1 water source. In the areas far from the main road, drinking water is taken from an open dug well or a protected spring. Purok Waling-Waling is the only purok that has no water source of its own and people would walk in distances even as far as 200 meters through dense grasslands and narrow roads on top of cliffs just to get water. In terms of water storage and purification, the residents utilize covered containers, which most of them clean regularly, but not all purify their drinking water.

Solution

To manage these problems, approaches must be focused on changing the negative practices of the community, mobilize the people, and utilize available resources to improve the situation of the water sources.

Sustainability

Community involvement is the best way to ascertain sustainability of the programs that will be implemented. All throughout the process, from the identification of the problem up to the evaluation of results, the people must be actively involved to instill the sense of ownership and cooperation in them. The local leaders must also be empowered so that they will be motivated to guide the people effectively and provide independent decisions in managing the projects.

swm update

APRIL 2021 IMPLEMENTATION

With the outbreak of COVID-19, healthcare facility projects are facing a new threat- one that affects not only the project but also the surrounding environment. Internal resources are being reallocated, teams are reevaluating safety precautions, and we are being forced to reconsider what objectives can be met under the given circumstances. The timing of project implementation by the point persons we have identified may differ from what our normal day-to-day operations would have been if we were there. We are forced to accept data or outcomes that may either be incomplete or not what we expected it to be.

For a smooth implementation, lists of tasks that can be completed remotely were made whilst keeping both the Barangay Council as well as the point person on the other end of our planned activities. On our part, we have assigned team members who have the skills to translate different written documents and video related presentations and other attainable tasks on their own or by a pair. Once your plan has been approved, you will be able to change direction and provide clear communication, which was another challenge we have faced. Our communication had to be constant, and despite doing that, and them agreeing to a proposed activity, the end result will almost always be slightly different or delayed, not that we’re complaining but it is still a bit sad.

The implementation part which was done in the community was both the most difficult and the easiest to accomplish. Prior to that, there were a couple more tasks that were to be finalized before the plan is set to motion. Everything that would be used in the implementation process was all ready and set to be delivered all together as a packaged that would aid the process in the other end. The activities we have prepared required us to have video lecture and distributable pamphlets and or flyers. And considering the language barrier or the huge differences in dialects, we had to translate each and every one of our resources to what the community would understand and easily digest.

Luckily for the Solid Waste Management CHP, the barangay and the people themselves were immersed and are keeping up with the monthly projects previously established and not have been skipping them while clearly adhering to the COVID-19 protocols. This year one of the activities that is a relief to be finally over is carrying out the Waste Characterization Study (WACS), wherein a 3-day generated waste were to be collected, segregated and weighed was done. The willingness and willpower of those barangay health workers that have accomplished that was truly amazing. The monthly clean up drive as well as the monitoring of the MRFs through logbooks were still practiced. The general assembly of Purok leaders and community representative was also a success. The program had started with an attendance taking and handing off of pamphlets, and a short test before the lecture proper and after it. Everyone had seemed to have done a good job on it even achieving almost perfect scores. Another activity was placement of a Maras Sanitation Board which we have prior layout and printed out and delivered, within the barangay health station. Documentation of all of the process was not bad depending on who’s in charge.

April 2021 Accomplishments:

Waste Analysis and Characterization Study (WACS) by purok
Lecture on Solid Waste Management (SWM)
Distribution of IEC materials on SWM
Clean-up drive
Plastic bottle collection facility construction
Construction of Maras Sanitation Board
Presentation of Waste Management & Society Alliance Towards Environmental Protection (WASTE) project

Upcoming Activities:

Following the protocols of social distancing, wearing of face masks, disinfection, and limiting movement to only essentials in the context of COVID-19 New Normal Setting, the following upcoming activities are as follows:
- Partnership with 4Ps on SWM advocacy
- Intersectoral collaboration on vermicomposting, and monitoring and improvement of Material Recovery Facility (MRF)
- Monthly clean-up drive and updates
- Partnership with junk shops
- Partnership with primary schools on story telling and video animation presentation on SWM