Connecting the Pipes: Navigating the Fragmented Rural Water Governance in the Philippines Through Common-Pool Resource Design Principles and Social Capital

Access to water for domestic use remains a challenge in many rural areas of the Philippines. To address this, the government constructs water systems and transfers their operation and maintenance to community-based organizations (CBOs), but the sustainability of these systems varies widely. The literature attributes this variability to fragmented governance. However, this overlooks the implementation gap at the community level, where CBOs are both managers and end-users. This study examines how institutional arrangements shaped by Ostrom's Common-Pool Resource (CPR) principles and social capital influence collective action and rural water governance. Drawing from qualitative data across three CBO-managed water systems in Janiuay, Iloilo, the findings highlight three key factors to sustainable rural water governance: participatory decision-making fostering trust and ownership, balancing external support and self-governance, and cultivating social capital were critical factors in fostering cooperation and successful self-governance of CBO-managed rural water systems.