Documentary on World’s Toilet Crisis

Rob of i360/Current TV recently informed me of this documentary by Vanguard correspondent Adam Yamaguchi who traveled to India, Singapore and Indonesia to understand why people don’t use toilets and what’s being done to end the practice of open defecation:

“An estimated 2.6 billion people, about 40% of the world’s population, have no access to toilets and defecate anywhere they can. As a result, more than 2 million people — including 1.5 million children — die from complications of chronic diarrhea.

When human waste isn’t contained or flushed down the toilet, it’s everywhere — in streets, open fields and, most dangerously, in the very water people drink. Adam investigates how countries are trying to solve an epidemic that few people want to talk about — the world’s toilet crisis.”

This documentary was aired on CurrentTV in September 2010 and has since generated quite a few interesting comments. Also includes footage on the work of the World Toilet Organization (WTO) via Jack Sim, as well as a light introduction to Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS).

Activities on World Toilet Day 2010

World Toilet” was a trending topic on Twitter today – a great success in social media, because a trending topic is a keyword or a combination of words on Twitter which are most often used during a given time and appear in a list of the 10 most often used keywords on Twitter. With Twitter being the de facto live indicator in social media with a world wide audience, this may indeed be regarded as a success.

WTD2010 events
some of the WTD 2010 events, mapped by the World Toilet Organization

Fortunately, many activities on World Toilet Day this year also covered some less virtual protest, like the opening of the 30th school toilet in a Georgian kindergarten via Women in Europe for a Common Future and their Georgian partner RCDA:

“Not only are the new toilets indoors, as opposed to the previously used pit latrines, they are specifically adapted to children’s use, have hand washing facilities and most importantly; they do not smell.”

Right here in Germany, over 100 students from schools in Berlin together with the German Toilet Organization (GTO) drew the attention to the current situation in Haiti and reemphasised the importance of adequate sanitation. Haiti is currently experiencing a cholera epidemic which has already claimed over 1000 lives. Cholera is caused by substandard sanitation and hygiene.

Toiletised World

Together with the German Toilet Organization (GTO), these youngsters protested at Berlin’s Alexanderplatz for a “Toiletised World”. With artistically designed toilet seats, bush toilets and other creative ideas, the students made their presence felt.

The German Federal Minister for Development Dirk Niebel applauded the students’ commitment to the World Toilet Day. Niebel explains that water and sanitation improvements remain a central focus of German international development work and goes beyond the current situation in Haiti. “Sustainable sanitation is essential, especially for children in order for them to grow up healthy and take part in education” the Minister stressed. “It is in schools where the foundations of behavioural changes in terms of hygiene and sustainable resource use are laid“.

Remember, World Toilet Day is celebrated on November 19 every year, and since EVERY HUMAN BEING HAS TO DEFECATE AND URINATE, a World Toilet Day affects all of use, rich and poor, sick or healthy.

So kudos to the World Toilet Organisation, Jack Sim and his dilligent team, for campaigning on- and offline & pushing the World Toilet Day on the international agenda!

Disclaimer: WTO, GTO and WECF are all partners of the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance.

Inform. Engage. Enable. @ WSSCC.org

The Water Supply & Sanitation Collaboration Council (WSSCC) relaunched their website (today) and I’ve just renewed my membership with them because it’s an active and focussed network of people who understand the need for an improved & sustainable water supply, sanitation and hygiene in this world.

wsscc screenshot

Site highlights include:

  • Cutting-edge information on 30+ WASH-related topics
  • Details on WSSCC’s in-country work through its coalitions and the Global Sanitation Fund
  • User-contributed sanitation, hygiene and water supply success stories
  • A powerful, contextual search engine and access to our experts
  • Member’s-only area with discussion forums, key documents and networking/search functions
  • Online advocacy resources
  • Publications and other resources in English, French and Spanish

If you’re active in this sector and feel like contributing, I encourage you to register with them and participate on this global platform. Thank you & see you there!

Oh, and more content in Spanish and French will be made available in Q1 of 2011.

Sustainable Sanitation and Water Management Toolbox

The Sustainable Sanitation and Water Management Toolbox (SSWM) is an online resource that helps in finding an answer to the following core question: What kind of processes, measures or tools can I use to optimize my local sanitation and water management system and make it more sustainable?

sswm toolbox website screenshot

This very fine and recently launched website is said to be “the most comprehensive collection of tools and approaches to improve water resources management sanitation at a local level”, because:

  • It follows a holistic and cross-sectoral approach
  • It addresses and integrates different stakeholders
  • It contains understandable and manageable contents
  • It is user and problem specific
  • It has a high standard and pedagogic approach
  • It links planning, software and technology
  • It provides ready-to-use and adjustable material

In addition to this toolbox, there are regular training courses that build on the SSWM Toolbox and aim at linking up sustainable sanitation, water management and agriculture at the local level and in practice. Upcoming training courses will take place in Nagarkot (Kathmandu), Nepal and Pune, India.

Also, I am particularly pleased that material published in the SSWM Toolbox for the first time is attributed with a CC-BY-3.0 licence which shows that online knowledge management is indeed possible with such a (modern) copyleft licence.

Who Gives A Crap

The good part about running a blog instead of being a journalist is that you can write about stuff you really like and also insert your own opinion as well as asking your readers for their comments. This obviously happens outside the conventional (dev aid) world with its often streamlined, corporate communication policies which sometimes avoid mentioning open issues like the following initiative which I read about today in the recommendable EcoSanRes mailing list.

If you’re interested in sustainable sanitation issues, make sure not to miss out this valuable exchange on first hand experiences with participants from all over the world. Yes, it’s just an old-fashioned mailing list that will sometimes clog up your inbox, but it’s the tool people use to communicate (hello 2010, hello RSS feeds, hello blogs, hello Facebook, hello Twitter, hello LinkedIn/Xing…). Continue reading “Who Gives A Crap”