Meet the Change-Makers Transforming Sanitation Around the World
With just seven years left, the world is seriously off track to meet Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: safe toilets and water for all by 2030. If we are to achieve our global sanitation goals set forth in the SDGs by this target date, the world must work five times faster to improve toilets and sanitation systems. USAID remains committed to helping accelerate progress toward these goals, including reaching an additional 22 million people with sustainable sanitation services by 2027, half of which will be people gaining first time access to basic services. The Agency has set equal targets for drinking water and sanitation services to elevate sanitation, which has been historically deprioritized.
Empowering sanitation businesses – and their workers – has proven successful in increasing uptake of many sanitation products and services. When these products and services are high-quality, affordable, and easily accessible to communities, they are more likely to be used.
That’s why USAID is joining the Toilet Board Coalition #IWorkInSanitation campaign to highlight sanitation industry heroes making a positive impact in their communities, and in turn, helping to advance sanitation systems around the world.
Read some of their inspiring stories
I am happy to see that these students with disabilities can easily use this toilet block.
Rasta, a father of four children and a construction worker, is working to eliminate barriers to safe sanitation for persons with disabilities in Madagascar. This year, Rasta and his team built a latrine block suitable for those with reduced mobility and visual impairments (pictured). Read more...
Photo credit: Dahery Razaka, RANO WASH
Achieving zero open defecation is more than just educating people. It takes serious investment. In Cauayan, we had to get creative and utilize every financing option available to make it happen.
Dr. Ayessa Hugnatan is a municipal health officer at Cauayan Municipality in Negros Occidental, Philippines. Through her leadership, the Cauayan municipal government adopted an innovative financing scheme introduced by USAID Safe Water to increase access to sanitary toilets in her municipality while demonstrating the success of the program to other local governments.
Photo credit: USAID/Philippines
Susana, a mother, grandmother, and long-time health volunteer, participated in a training supported by the USAID Indonesia Urban Resilience, Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (USAID IUWASH Tangguh) project during which she gained the knowledge, skills, and confidence to help promote safely managed water, sanitation, and hygiene practices in Indonesia’s Kupang district.
Photo credit: USAID IUWASH Tangguh
It’s more than just a job now, it’s my passion and my lifeline.
Thanks to the skills gained through his participation in Transform WASH, Khaleel Ahmed’s sanitation masonry business in Ethiopia is thriving. He proactively brings his products and expertise directly to potential customers’ homes, allowing him to connect with them on a deeper level and understand their needs in order to provide them with the most appropriate solutions. Read more...
Photo credit: PSI/Ethiopia
This is where we came up with an idea of an indestructible, automated self-cleaning toilet that could be made out of metal and operated with the help of new-age, technology-enabled sensors.
Mayank Midha (pictured left), co-founder and CEO of GARVToilets, is an alumnus of the Toilet Board Coalition’s Accelerator program which accelerates business solutions to sanitation issues. GARVToilets produces sanitation hubs – a one-stop shop that integrates water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities through the provision of smart toilets and bath facilities – manufactured out of stainless steel that contain automatic flushing, sinks, and lights. They also use smart technology to automatically clean the floors after every 10 uses. To date, GARV has installed more than 2,000 toilets at 262 locations, spanning 4 counties and benefitting an estimated 200,000 people every day.
Photo credit: Rachel Chilton, USAID
This partnership with USAID WASH-FIN resulted in the most significant loan in my career and increased my confidence in the potential to expand VICAS (sanitation service provider) operations in the region.
Ibra Sow, the president of a Senegalese sanitation service provider, worked with USAID WASH-FIN to design a new business plan, including a capital raising strategy, financial model, and investor analysis. With WASH-FIN support, VICAS negotiated a competitive bank loan that increased its ability to maintain and repair equipment and infrastructure, thereby improving the quality of sanitation services for the approximately 50,000 households served.
Photo credit: USAID/WASH-FIN