World Toilet Day 2013 - looking for ideas?

http://www.washadvocates.org/events/world-toilet-day/

World Toilet Day

Every November 19, international and civil society organizations all over the world have celebrated World Toilet Day. But until 2013, it was not formally recognized as an official UN day.

This year is different!!

In July 2013, the United Nations General Assembly designated 19 November as World Toilet Day, urging changes in both behavior and policy on issues ranging from enhancing water management to ending open-air defecation.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson issued a statement immediately following the Assembly’s action, noting: “This new annual observance will go a long way toward raising awareness about the need for all human beings to have access to sanitation.”

See below for a list of celebrations and events commemorating this important day!

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This World Toilet Day sing
#ThankYouToilet with WaterAid!

Louie Loo video promotion
Date: Begins week of November 11^th, 2013
Link: http://www.wateraid.org/news/news/say-thank-you-toilet-this-world-toilet-day
Meet Louie the Loo, our unsung hero this World Toilet Day, as he finds his voice and asks people to say “thank you, toilet!”. The short film created by WaterAid sees a seemingly normal toilet come to life in the middle of the night and sing its heart out for some recognition. Use the hashtag #thankyoutoilet
Contact:
Alanna Imbach, WaterAid
aimbach@wateraidamerica.org
212.683.0430

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Toilets USA: Why we need to speak out
Date: November 11-19, 2013
Link: http://www.phlush.org/toiletsusa-why-we-need-to-speak-out/
Toilet Advocacy Toolkit:  http://www.phlush.org/world-toilet-day-toolkit/
Toilets USA’s social media campaign will share concepts and tools to encourage World Toilet Day celebrations in local communities. In partnership with The POOP Project we’re asking US-based practitioners, researchers, entrepreneurs, and activists to “talk toilets” and tell the world about their work. Our goal is to mobilize a broad advocacy network to champion toilets for all globally, while tackling key sanitation issues that challenge the United States.
Please use these hashtags and handles: #ToiletsUSA #LiftTheLid #CelebrateTheToilet @PortlandPHLUSH @Poop_Project
Contact:
Carol McCreary, Public Hygiene Lets Us Stay Human (PHLUSH)
carol@hplush.org
(503) 984-4081

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Celebrating the Toilet at Be the Change Exposition, 2013
Date: November 12^th, 2013
Link: http://sochinaction.com/btc-2013-activity
Be the Change Exposition is an annual children’s event that aims to extend children’s learning & awareness about society and inspire them to make positive changes in the world they live in. The World Toilet Organization will be hosting a unique booth featuring interactive activities, including the Toilet Wall of Love and Instapoo Booth. Children can sit on our exclusively hand-painted portable toilets, have their photos taken and spend their ‘toilet time’ thinking about solutions to the global sanitation crisis. The event will be attended by over 800 children from schools across Singapore. Use the hashtags #celebratethetoilet #toiletthoughts
Contact:
Divya Chandran, Communications Manager, WTO
divya@worldtoilet.org

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Meet Shawn Shafner, Founder of The POOP Project

Lift The Lid” Video Series
Date: November 15, 2013: Series Premiere
Link: http://www.goflushyourself.com/
Don’t let shame, embarrassment or a prudish grandmother keep you from talking about the most important medical intervention since 1860. This World Toilet Day, #LiftTheLid with The POOP Project and FLUSH: The Documentary. Beginning Nov. 15, check out our short videos to discover just some of the reasons to talk toilets. Then tell us why you think toilets are important! Upload your own video with the hashtag #LiftTheLid, and help us really make a stink this World Toilet Day. Use the hashtags #LiftTheLid #CelebrateTheToilet #ToiletsUSA
Contacts:
Karina Mangu-Ward, Director, FLUSH: The Documentary
karinamw@gmail.com
(617) 308-9523
@karinamw
Shawn Shafner, Creator, The POOP Project
shawn@thePOOPproject.org
(347) 385-5186
@poop_project

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“Celebrate the Toilet!” Berlin
Date: November 15, 2013
Congratulate the toilet on the virtual toilet stall wall www.celebratethetoilet.org. Toilet Parties are invite-only; please email contact person for invite request. The humble toilet is one of the greatest inventions in the history of humankind. And yet, globally, 4 out of 10 people still have no access to a safe and hygienic toilet. In July 2013, the United Nations General Assembly designated World Toilet Day – established by the World Toilet Organization (WTO) 12 years ago – as an official United Nations Day, making this November 19th the toilets first official day of honor. Come, drink, dance and mingle, and celebrate the life-saving value of the toilet on its big day!
Post a photo of your toilet celebration with the hashtag #CelebrateTheToilet or Instagram @WASHUnited, Facebook @Celebrate the Toilet or Twitter @WASHUnited. The best picture will be awarded a 1 year’s supply of Looloo Paper, toilet paper that saves lives!
Contact:
Julia LaKaemper
julia.lakaemper@wash-united.org

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Unveiling ceremony of World Toilet Day monument (Marina Barrage, Singapore)
Date: November 16^th, 2013
The World Toilet Day monument will be unveiled on November 16 at the Marina Barrage to commemorate the Government of Singapore and the World Toilet Organization’s historic milestone in tabling the Sanitation for All resolution at the UN General Assembly and designating November 19 as UN World Toilet Day. Use the hashtags #wtdmonument #toiletdayeveryday
Contact:
Divya Chandran, Communications Manager, WTO
divya@worldtoilet.org

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World Pneumonia Day/Toilet Day Game Night  (Washington, DC)
Date: November 18^th, 2013
Pneumonia and diarrhea are two of the leading killers of children globally. There are simple solutions to prevent and treat both illnesses, and some of these solutions fight both diseases at the same time. Come see the impact of US investments to end preventable child deaths and to learn about the interventions required to prevent 2 million child deaths by 2015.
Monday, November 18, 2013
5:00-7:00 p.m.
Rayburn Foyer, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC
Contact:
Lizzie Cohen
advocacy@path.org
202.822.0033

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Do Epic Shit
Date: November 19^th, 2013
Links: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/do-epic-shit and 
http://www.crowdrise.com/DoEpicShit
On World Toilet Day, Toilet Hackers and Expedition Everest will launch a joint campaign to inspire the world to “Do Epic Shit.” Led by Steve Obbayi, the first Kenyan climber to attempt the summit of Mount Everest in March 2014, the campaign will not only rally global citizens around sanitation issues but also fuel a hand washing campaign in Kibera, Nairobi’s largest slum.
For every meter that Steve climbs, Toilet Hackers will provide hygiene education and access to sanitary hand washing facilities to two people living in Kibera. With Everest standing at 8,850 meters, that’s nearly 18,000 people living healthier lives in Kenya. Expedition Everest founder and climber Toby Storie-Pugh will kick off the Indiegogo fundraising campaign to support Steve’s Everest climb and the Kibera hand washing project on Nov. 19 by walking the length of Manhattan and then camping each night in the city until the commitment is completed. Anyone who wants to Do Epic Shit with Expedition Everest and Toilet Hackers can join the team on Crowdrise. Use hashtag #DoEpicShit

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Cocktails, Dancing & Sh*t Talking: “Celebrate the Toilet!”  (New York City)
Date: November 19^th, 2013
Link: http://www.celebratethetoilet.org/ – Congratulate the toilet on the virtual toilet stall wall
Toilet Parties are invite-only; please email contact person for invite request. The humble toilet is one of the greatest inventions in the history of humankind. And yet, globally, 4 out of 10 people still have no access to a safe and hygienic toilet. In July 2013, the United Nations General Assembly designated World Toilet Day – established by the World Toilet Organization (WTO) 12 years ago – as an official United Nations Day, making this November 19th the toilets first official day of honor.
This is why WASH United, the World Toilet Organization and Toilet Hackers are coming together to “Celebrate the Toilet!”
**Featuring MC Casey Spooner, of Fischer Spooner**
Post a photo of your toilet celebration with the hashtag #CelebrateTheToilet or Instagram @WASHUnited, Facebook @Celebrate the Toilet or Twitter @WASHUnited. The best picture will be awarded a 1 year’s supply of Looloo Paper, toilet paper that saves lives!
Contact:
Danielle Keiser
danielle.keiser@wash-united.org

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“Celebrate the Toilet!” (Nairobi)
Date: November 19^th, 2013
Link: http://www.celebratethetoilet.org/ – Congratulate the toilet on the virtual toilet stall wall
Toilet Parties are invite-only; please email contact person for invite request. The humble toilet is one of the greatest inventions in the history of humankind. And yet, globally, 4 out of 10 people still have no access to a safe and hygienic toilet. In July 2013, the United Nations General Assembly designated World Toilet Day – established by the World Toilet Organization (WTO) 12 years ago – as an official United Nations Day, making this November 19th the toilets first official day of honor. Come together to celebrate the life-saving value of the toilet on its big day!
Post a photo of your toilet celebration with the hashtag #CelebrateTheToilet or Instagram @WASHUnited, Facebook @Celebrate the Toilet or Twitter @WASHUnited. The best picture will be awarded a 1 year’s supply of Looloo Paper, toilet paper that saves lives!
Contact:
Aparna Shrivastava
aparna.shrivastava@wash-united.org

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“We can’t wait: A report on sanitation and hygiene for women and girls”
Date: released on November 19^th, 2013
Link: will be made available at 12:01am on Nov 19
WaterAid, WSSCC and Unilever will be releasing a new report entitled “We can’t wait” at a UN event in New York to mark the official recognition of Word Toilet Day. The report highlights the start consequences of the lack of access to toilets for women and girls, and the need to act both urgently and decisively. Use the hashtag #wecantwait
Contact:
Alanna Imbach, WaterAid
aimbach@wateraidamerica.org
212.683.0430

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World Toilet Day event at the UN HQ, New York (in partnership with Singapore Permanent Mission to the UN) – invitation only
Date: November 19^th, 2013
A commemorative event at the UN to celebrate the inaugural UN World Toilet Day. There will be keynote speeches and a panel discussion toilets and sanitation followed by a reception.
Use the hashtags #toiletdayeveryday #toiletsforall #celebratethetoilet
Contact:
Divya Chandran, Communications Manager, WTO
divya@worldtoilet.org

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Celebrate the Toilet exhibition (German Centre, Singapore)
Date: November 19 – November 28
A week long exhibition on the evolution of toilets and sanitation technology, in partnership with Duravit, Geberit and the German Centre. Use the hashtags  #celebratethetoilet
Contact:
Divya Chandran, Communications Manager, WTO
divya@worldtoilet.org

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Brown Friday Campaign
Date: November 19^th, 2013 - January 2^nd, 2014
Link: (Available on Nov 19) - www.indiegogo/projects/brown-friday 
Brown Friday is a social media awareness campaign + Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for school sanitation project in South Africa. Brown Friday is the number 2 reason to spend this holiday season. We believe that every school child should have access to clean, safe toilets; because nothing keeps kids away from school like having no place to poop and pee in peace. Our first project for 2014 is to put up one toilet building for a school in KwaMashu, South Africa that desperately needs it. For this, we’re going to need $30,000.To help raise this money, we’re hijacking Black Friday and declaring it Brown Friday. While spending money on yourself, your family, and your friends on this shopping holiday, remember to get online and share some with the kids in KwaMashu. Use the hashtag #brownfriday
Contact:
Divya Chandran, Communications Manager, WTO
divya@worldtoilet.org

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Charity Premiere of Film “Everybody’s Business”(Golden Village Cinemas, Vivocity, HarbourFront Singapore)

Date: November 28^th, 2013
Link : (Trailer) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drKp4Jm9yV8 
The original concept of the film came from Jack Sim, founder of WTO. The film, executively produced by prominent Singaporean filmmaker Jack Neo (Ah Boys To Men) and directed by Lee Thean-jeen (Homecoming), stars stellar local comedians Gurmit Singh, Mark Lee, Liu Ling Ling, Wang Lei and Kumar. A light-hearted, satirical film revolving around the Ministry of Toilets,Everybody’s Business is about public toilets and hygiene in Singapore, and citizen engagement with the government. Tickets are at $50 each. Use the hashtag #toiletdayeveryday
Contact:
Divya Chandran, Communications Manager, WTO
divya@worldtoilet.org

World Toilet Summit / Trillion Dollar Market

I hope as many of you as possible are planning to join Jack Sim and his colleagues at this year's World Toilet Summit in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Oct 31 - Nov 3).

Below are a couple of paragraphs from a press release I received yesterday about the event. More information at http://www.worldtoilet.org/.

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TRILLION DOLLAR MARKET

The theme of the 2010 ICC World Toilet Summit is “2.6 Billion Sanitation Business Opportunities.” This strategy intends to engage large corporations by demonstrating the staggering size and profit potential that lies in providing the poverty sector with access to quality toilets at affordable prices. The global sanitation crisis affects nearly 40% of the world population who live on less than $2 USD per day. People living without toilets belong to a consumer group at the bottom of the economic pyramid who live in relative poverty, but collectively have purchasing power representing a $5 trillion USD market.

Aside from reaching business decision makers, another objective of bringing the WTS to the U.S. is to dramatically heighten awareness of the global sanitation crisis among U.S. policymakers, organizations, and the general public in order to continue to grow support for this cause, both short- and long-term.

“We are so proud to be part of this initiative,” stated ICC PMG Group Executive Director Jay Peters. “The attendees and other participants of this powerful conference will benefit tremendously from the expanded and richer conference and expo offerings, as well as invaluable networking opportunities for future business ventures that wouldn’t otherwise be available to them. It will be outstanding for our organizations, the entire plumbing industry and the businesses that serve them, as well as the entire world.”

Grand Challenges in Global Health / Gates Foundation

Just making sure you are following Gates’ latest Grand Challenge round. Of particular interest might be their sanitation challenge this year:

Create the Next Generation of Sanitation Technologies

[[The goal of this topic is to generate original and innovative ideas for technologies to support sustainable sanitation services for the excreta of billions of people who are not served by centralized, waterborne sanitation. We are looking for innovations in non-conventional technologies with potential to be adopted due to their affordability, durability, convenience, aesthetic design, and effectiveness. Innovations that leverage nutrient capture, energy reuse or industrial usage may make sense as a means of adding income or reducing costs in the sanitation service delivery chain.]]

Here are the rest of challenges, including the polio eradication challenge which links polio to safe water and sanitation:

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/global-health/Pages/grand-challenges-explorations.aspx

Safe Drinking Water, Sanitation, and HIV/AIDS

Recently published on the Pulitzer Center's World Water Day Writing Contest:

It's springtime 2010 and you are traveling through sub-Saharan Africa, say Malawi, Botswana, South Africa, back up to Uganda, in rural farming communities, in slums, in burgeoning cities. You see farmers supporting their families, workers putting in long days, parents stretching to send their sons and daughters to school and trying to save for a rainy day, presented with opportunities and obstacles similar to those facing many others across the planet.

You also see those same people struggling to escape from two massive public health challenges that for most of the rest of the planet are increasingly rare: a lack of safe drinking water and toilets, and HIV/AIDS. You return to your relatively comfortable home inspired to do something tangible and holistic about both issues.

In trying to figure out the linkages between WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) and HIV/AIDS, your research reveals that the two issues are more closely connected than you realized.

According to USAID, "People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are at increased risk for diarrheal diseases, and are far more likely to suffer severe and chronic complications if infected. Recent evidence demonstrates the efficacy of hand washing, safe water and sanitation in reducing diarrhea among PLWHA by 25% or more." That makes sense, and is even more convincing to you than the brutally true soundbite "You can't take antiretrovirals without safe drinking water, because you'll either throw them up or lose them out the other end because of diarrhea."

And on the flipside, USAID continues: "And people living without safe water and sanitation, with the dire poverty that often accompanies it, are likely less educated and more likely to contract HIV." So people living with HIV need safe water and toilets to prevent potentially fatal opportunistic diarrhea, and those people with safe water and toilets are less likely to become the next victims of HIV.

So what do you do?

You start by volunteering with a water and sanitation nonprofit focused on providing HIV/AIDS treatment centers and surrounding communities in Tanzania with safe drinking water, with toilets, and with handwashing stations and soap. That nonprofit with its holistic approach to both drinking water and HIV works with entire communities to make sure there is 100% handwashing with soap, and zero open defecation, thus reducing the risk of waterborne diarrhea (e.g. cholera) transmission, particularly for those with immune systems compromised by HIV. All brought to you by safe water.

You write letters to Congress, suggesting that taxpayer-funded HIV treatment initiatives like PEPFAR continue their life-saving work with ARVs, but also include complementary safe drinking water and sanitation programs both for outpatients at HIV clinics and for their families and communities.

You blog and tweet that HIV/AIDS is receiving an enormous amount of funding, and justifiably so, but diarrheal disease, 90% of which is caused by unsafe drinking water and inadequate sanitation, continues to kill millions of under fives annually. You underscore to your followers that the world has known how to solve the water problem for over a century and that fatal waterborne diarrhea should be eliminated across the planet.

You acknowledge to yourself that if every human life is indeed equal, you can ignore neither HIV-positive people nor those susceptible to easily preventable, fatal waterborne diarrhea.

This holistic approach will take a big bite out of the 4,500 daily child deaths associated with unsafe water and sanitation, and contribute to a better quality of life and longer survival times for people living with HIV/AIDS.

So the next time you travel through sub-Saharan Africa, you will see farmers farming, workers earning their paychecks, girls going to school, without the twin scourges of unsafe water and HIV shadowing their lives.

Toilets Save Eyesight

This article deserves to be above the fold in the New York Times. Very insightful. Summary: if you want to prevent preventable blindness, you need to consider sanitation and safe water. Don't stop the surgeries, don't stop the antibiotics, and perhaps most importantly for the longrun, don't neglect the Facewashing and Environmental Sanitation parts of the SAFE strategy.

Zambia – Toilets save eyesight, new study confirms
November 16, 2009

CALGARY, Nov. 16 /CNW/ – Why in the world is an organization dedicated to the treatment and prevention of blindness spending money on toilets?

“Because believe it or not, toilets and blindness are directly connected,” says Pat Ferguson, President & CEO of Operation Eyesight. “Proper sanitation and clean water are in short supply in the developing world and that contributes to a high rate of unnecessary blindness and other serious health problems.”

A new study conducted by Zambia’s Ministry of Health and supported by Operation Eyesight found that trachoma was 28 per cent more likely to strike in households that do not have proper toilet facilities. The study, which covered five districts in Zambia, found that up to 80 per cent of the households surveyed do not have toilets.

“Trachoma is caused by a bacterium and is easily spread from person to person and by flies which breed on human waste,” says Ferguson. “So it’s no surprise that proper sewage disposal helps to prevent this horrible disease.”

Trachoma is the world’s leading cause of preventable blindness. In parts of Zambia and Kenya where Operation Eyesight supports development projects designed to eliminate trachoma, up to 30 per cent of children age one to nine years are infected.

Without treatment, trachoma causes a person’s eyelids to turn inward so that the eyelashes constantly scrape the eyeball. It is extremely painful and can lead to permanent blindness. The World Health Organization estimates more than 80 million people are affected by trachoma and about 8 million suffer the advanced stages of the disease and are visually impaired.

Operation Eyesight’s trachoma projects are designed to both treat and permanently eliminate trachoma. The projects follow the World Health Organization-endorsed SAFE strategy which includes Surgery to treat the late stage of the disease, Antibiotics to eliminate infection, Face washing and hygiene promotion, and Environmental change including water wells and latrines to prevent re-infection.

To be effective, the ambitious projects require construction of thousands of latrines, drilling hundreds of wells, mass distribution of antibiotics and training thousands of citizens in hygiene and well management.

“These projects are large and costly,” says Ferguson, “But the benefits are enormous. In addition to preventing unnecessary blindness, the SAFE strategy dramatically reduces other serious diseases, helps keep children in school and saves women the need to walk many kilometers in search of water, which is usually unfit for human consumption.”

Operation Eyesight is working in close partnership with the governments of Kenya and Zambia and is a member of GET2020, the World Health Organization initiative to eradicate trachoma from the entire world by 2020. For more information about Operation Eyesight’s trachoma projects, visit www.operationeyesight.com.

Operation Eyesight is a Canadian international development organization dedicated to preventing and treating blindness throughout the world for more than 45 years – primarily in South Asia and Africa. We help local medical professionals provide comprehensive, sustainable eye care and community development for the people of the world who can least afford it. Since 1963, Operation Eyesight has restored sight to more than two million people and provided blindness prevention services to nearly 33 million others. For more information, visit www.operationeyesight.com.

Global Blindness – Every five seconds, one person in our world goes blind and a child goes blind every minute. More than 90 per cent of the world’s blind people live in developing countries, where day-to-day life is already challenging and blindness is a direct threat to life. About 80 per cent of this blindness is preventable or treatable.

Source – NewsWire