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Olongapo City has been classified as one of the Cities in the Philippines
faced with the problem of rapid urbanization and the resultant proliferation
of urban poor families. Lured by the prospect of better work opportunities
as a result of the presence o the U.S. Naval Base, rural folks migrate to
this city to try their luck. In the city, they find that life is even harder.
Forced to squeeze themselves in the squatters’ areas, migrant families
had to deal with low income, poor housing conditions and overcrowding, insecurities
of land tenure, inadequate water and sanitation services, and other social
problems stemming from a foreign presence here.
In response to the situation of the urban poor, Columban College initiated
in 1983 a programme called, “ Community-Based Services for Low-Income
Communities in Olongapo City”. Services for children and women are
provided in seven (7) puroks located in three (3) Barangays through a package
of small scale projects intended to demonstrate the urban basic services
strategy.
In 1985, after only two and a half years, the project was turned over
to the city government through the City Health Office. The transfer was
meant to accelerate the programme implementation in terms of area and population
coverage and in terms of scope of services utilizing government resources
and structure.
In 1988, the project was transferred to the Office of the City Mayor as
its special project catering to the needs of the urban poor families. Under
the cudgel of the city government, there are now fifty seven (57) community
organizations located in fifteen (15) Barangays. The Community Organizations
have been coalesced into one Federation called SUGPO (Samahang Ugnayan ng
mga Gawaing Pampamayanan sa Olongapo).
Programme Objectives
In general, the Urban Basic Services Programme aims to uplift the quality
of life of the urban poor families, especially the women and children, in
the marginalized communities of the city.
Specifically, the programme trusts to achieve the following objectives:
1. To organize communities and harness their capabilities in managing their
own development programme.
2. To augment family income through the provision of alternative sources of
credit to support efforts on improving health situation.
3. To expand the access of street and urban working children to basic social
services, e.g. education and health.
4. To upgrade and expand facilities and distribution network of water, sanitation,
electricity, drainage and other public services in depressed areas.
5. To increase the participation of urban poor women and children in early
childhood development.
6. To strengthen the capacity of the Urban Poor Federation and the Community
Organizations in the effective management of their development programmes.
Major Strategies
To achieve greater impact to the above-mentioned objectives, the project is
guided by the following major strategies:
Community Participation
Allows the community organizations to actively involve in the management of
their programme. This is anchored on the principle that the people have the
right to partake in all stages of development affecting their lives. Communities
being served are enabled to participate actively in all processes of community
development cycle, i.e., from the identification and prioritization of problems
to planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
Convergence of Services / Integration of Services
The serving agencies pool their resources in collaboration with target communities
so that delivery of services becomes more effective. This facilitates the
coordinated and systematic delivery of services to the urban poor by government
and non-government organizations. In this manner, duplication of services
and wastage of valuable but limited resources are avoided. The practice of
working together between and among agencies concerned leads to a cost-effective
implementation, and hence, successful achievement of desired goals and objectives.
Advocacy
Programme messages on the development of women and children are delivered
through innovative advocacy activities such as the use of print media, radio,
television, puppetry, symposium, parents’ classes, plays and other folk media.
Social Mobilization
Integration of Basic services addressing concerns of children and women can
be achieved through a process called social mobilization. It serves as a framework
for generating awareness, interest, support and concrete actions from various
sectors of the society in making available all possible means and resources
towards improving the situation of children and women.
Human Resource Development
Training / Workshop / Seminars are conducted among agency field workers and
community volunteers to strengthen the capacity of the human resources of
the city in the management of social development programme for the urban poor.
Major Components:
The major components of UBSP in Olongapo City are divided into the following
categories:
1. Community Organizing
2. Health and Nutrition
3. Livelihood
4. Water and Sanitation
5. Special Services for Street and Urban Working Children
Community Organizing:
Community Organizing as a component and as a strategy cuts across all components.
It aims to facilitate the empowerment of urban poor communities to enable
them to define and chart the direction of their development. There are now
57 organized communities whose members get involved in planning, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of development programmed.
These communities are divided into neighborhood clusters composed of 15-20
families. These families select a leader from among themselves to represent
the group. The community in general elect the officers of their organization
from among the cluster representatives who will formulate their community
action plan. These plans from each of the target communities together constitute
the basis for Social Development Urban Basic Services Programme.
Essentially, the development of the urban poor communities are managed by
the communities themselves with the assistance of cooperating agencies (GOs
and NGOs) while UBSP acts as facilitators.
As a result of community organizing, the communities identified and implemented
more than 50 community-initiated projects in 9 years time. Among the community-initiated
projects implemented were: installation / construction of water system, (water
impounding tanks and jetmatic pumps, and the like), construction of individual
and communal toilet facilities, construction of drainage canals and footpaths,
construction of multi-purpose sheds, basketball courts / playground, installation
of street lights, etc.
These infrastructure projects undertaken by the communities are being monitored
and maintained by the organization officers and members.
