Catalog

Box 5: Beneficiary Participation

The National Irrigation Authority (NIA) of the Philippines has been active in involving beneficiaries in its operations. Of around 1.5 million hectares under irrigation in the country, about 42 percent is served by national irrigation systems, another 42 percent by communal irrigation systems, and the remaining 16 percent by pump irrigation systems. The communal and pump systems are operated and maintained by farmer Irrigators' Associations (IAs), which were first introduced in the Philippines some 20 years ago (with assistance of the Ford Foundation). The performance of IAs in operation and maintenance (O&M) of communal systems has encourage NIA to extend the concept of beneficiary-implemented O&M to the (larger-size) national systems. With support from the World Bank and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), NIA is undertaking a program of restructuring and strengthening IAs to help them cope better with these additional o&M responsibilities. Under the Bank's Irrigation Systems Improvement Project (1990), five national systems financed by earlier Bank-assisted projects are being rehabilitated and handed over to IAs of O&M. Participation of IAs is envisage under all phases of project development, viz. preparation, implementation, and operation. Their involvement in the implementation of the civil works would recompense beneficiaries for any temporary decrease of farm productivity caused by interruptions in water supply during construction. The IAs will also be empowered increasingly to collect the irrigation service fees. An institutional development component aims to reorganize the IAs into cohesive larger groups with great self-reliance, and to initiate a cooperative program that will give them better access to the credit facilities of the Land Bank of the Philippines and other rural financing institutions.

In Pakistan, the Bank, along with the World Bank and other funding agencies, is supporting the Social Action Program (SAP; 1994). The SAP, which covers the entire country for a five-year period, embraces four subsector: (i) primary education, (ii) primary health, (iii) population welfare, and (iv) rural water supply and sanitation (RWSS). Its design is based on an annual assessment of objectives, targets, and policy and institutional reform measures, and includes a review of the entire public sector expenditure program related to the four subsectors. The SAP aims to improve access and quality in the delivery of basic social services, with particular emphasis on rural and underserved areas and with a considerable gender bias towards women. A process approach has been followed in preparing and implementing the SAP, stressing community involvement and participation of nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and the private sector. Users' committees are being introduced in all RWSS activities, and Village Education and Parent-Teacher Committees are being established for supervision of schools. During FY1992/93, about 100 communities built their own schools staffed by women teachers, paid by the Government. Similarly, increasing the number of female, village-level family planning works will help community participation under the population program, while community health workers will achieve the same purpose in the health subsector. To promote NGO involvement, education and health foundations are being established in the provinces, and privatization of basic health units and rural health centers will be considered, where feasible. As a multiagency effort, the SAP will also provide major opportunities for dialogue with the Government on social sector policy reform.