Continue but Redesign the Grant Program for Water Supply and Sanitation

One approach used by the Philippine government to support the Millennium Development Goals for water supply and sanitation is to provide grant financing to waterless communities. This Policy Note presents the main findings of a study evaluating two grant financing programs--the President's Priority Program for Water Supply and the Sagana at Ligtas na Tubig para sa Lahat. The study involved process evaluation on the effectiveness and transparency of program execution, and qualitative impact evaluation to examine if the grant programs have achieved their objectives and if the capital investments are sustainable and could be the basis to further expand access to safe water supply and sanitation services. Both programs have issues on poor sustainability of investments. A defined management structure is suggested as a minimum requirement for grant provision. Grantees should also be required to participate in the Listahang Tubig, the water service providers' registry project, and to annually report their benchmarking indicators.