World Toilet Day

19th November 2023

Ever wondered what life would be without a toilet? For many, this isn’t an option. Even today, 1 in 4 people around the world lack access. In fact, more than 10% of our global population has to defecate in the open, and globally, 55% of people – that’s over half of us -do not have access to safely managed sanitation. People across the globe – predominantly women and children – spend 466 million hours every single day walking to find water or a safe place to relieve themselves. What makes these numbers even more shocking, though, is when you consider that more people in the world have access to a mobile phone than a toilet! It’s a United Nations Observance to take action to tackle the sanitation crisis and contribute towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6): water and sanitation for all by 2030, World Toilet Day is a day when Harpic along with other organizations around the world, seek to raise awareness of the fact that too many people globally - including right here in India - still do not have access to a toilet and safely managed sanitation. It’s also a day when we can remind ourselves to take a stand, encourage action and drive change.

This year’s World Toilet Day theme is ‘sustainable sanitation’ a theme that also covers how access to safely managed sanitation systems and good hygiene practices, as well as toilets, protect our health.

Already an issue for many communities in India, the coronavirus shed new light on the critical role sanitation plays in keeping ourselves and our loved ones safe and healthy.

Driven by our mission to help elevate toilet and bathroom hygiene for better health and safety for everyone, everywhere - this World Toilet Day we continue to play our part here at Harpic. In India, we partner with Mission Swacchta Paani and Water.org and set up the Harpic World Toilet College, truly putting our Brand Line the ‘clean that makes a difference’ into action.

So, what is Harpic Mission Swacchta Paani? Right now, in India lack of adequate access to water has become a key barrier for many homes, preventing them for maintaining the cleanliness and hygiene of their toilets. With more than 600 million Indian households facing acute water shortages, the situation is only getting worse with India’s projected water demand estimated to be twice the available supply by 2030. With our Mission Swacchta Paani initiative (in partnership with Network 18 - one of India’s largest media houses) we are creating an ecosystem which will help India save millions of litres of water so that no home in India has to compromise on health and hygiene due to inadequate availability of water.

This five-year collaborative eco-system building programme is taking the first steps towards solving India’s clean water crisis, helping save water and sustaining it for years to come. This year, we’ve also rolled out access to safe, clean toilets across the country, using a crowd sourced technology solution that makes it possible to geolocate clean toilets at the touch of a button. For the future we plan to launch ‘Loocator’ in collaboration with Google India, where you will be able to find clean and accessible toilets at the touch of a button. The application is powered by real users in real time and gets better as more and more people use it. Purpose Driven Collaboration will serve as a key pillar in making this a success and allowing Harpic India to strengthen the cause of making ‘Clean Toilets Accessible to Everyone’.

Building on the success of Harpic Mission Swacchta Paani, we also launched the Harpic World Toilet College Programme, in association with World Toilet Organisation (WTO) of Singapore and Jagaran Pehel. Looking at the plight of sanitation workers in India, whose work has expanded and intensified since the pandemic, the Harpic World Toilet College Programme helps provide sanitation workers with a dignified livelihood, access to basic rights and improve their self-esteem.

The Harpic World Toilet College Programme is now present in six states and operates as a knowledge sharing platform with the aim of consistently uplifting the lives of the sanitation workers. Workers are trained by the college and gain placements with various organisations where they learn on the job and are also educated about their rights, health hazards, use of technology and alternate livelihood skills.

And tying it all together, we’re particularly thankful for our global partnership with Water.org. They have enabled lasting household water and sanitation solutions across India, Indonesia and Kenya disadvantaged communities. To date, reaching 1.1million people, mobilising $78.4M of capital and 95% of loans for household sanitation.

The global partnership with Water.org focuses on empowering families with the tools they need to fund their own sanitation solutions. People like Ranjana, who was able to take out a water credit loan to build her family a toilet. The money she has subsequently saved on her family’s medical bills enabled her to buy a sewing machine - which she has used to build a sewing business and empowers her to provide for her family. Ranjana’s story is representative of so many others and highlights that bringing sustainable water supply, improved sanitation, and healthy hygiene practices, has wide reaching benefits beyond health itself for both individuals and whole communities.

This World Toilet Day, you can help bring our Brand Line to life; Harpic the clean that makes a difference. By taking part or simply just spreading the word. What will you do to make a difference?

Help us to do even more by donating today: https://water.org/morethanatoilet/

This World Toilet Day, you can help bring our Brand Line to life; Harpic the clean that makes a difference. By taking part or simply just spreading the word. What will you do to make a difference?

Help us to do even more by donating today: https://water.org/morethanatoilet/