The roots of these problem stem from project design as (i) the project was attempting to
advocate for an increased priority to be given to domestic wastewater by DENR, from within the
organization, and (ii) Partnering between organizations is widely recognized to take additional
resources, including substantial political will, and the PMO was not adequately resourced for the
task. However it should also be noted that a number of good practices were developed during
project implementation to support partnership development, for example;
a. The implementing agencies developed TWGs for each component to review the procurement
and deliverables of all consultants and civil works. The head of each TWG also served as the
focal point for that component. These TWGs were made up of permanent staff which
supported internal capacity building even with the overall reliance on consultants for
implementation;
b. In the initial stages of the project the main focus was on consultation and training with LGUs
to develop the base for implementing CWA-2004. The large number of LGUs engaged with
DENR through MoUs (14 in total) proved difficult to support in practice. Introducing the
establishment of WQMAs, a provision under the CWA-2004, during the project restructuring
facilitated LGU engagement.
c. Frequent Partnership meetings were used for cross agency coordination and to resolve
problems in implementation. These meetings resolved many of the issues faced during the
construction of the JSSTP, for example working times and haulage in crowded urban spaces,
and are partly credited with ensuring that the construction was completed on schedule.
d. The draft reports and policy instruments have undergone extensive stakeholder consultations
and the project has supported public release of water quality data