The Importance of Toilets
In our last print newsletter, we featured a story about our public health work, including toilet construction. A few days after we mailed it out, the 2006 United Nations Human Development was released and it highlights the importance of toilets! Colleen Thapalia, ETC Board President reflects on ETC's toilet work in light of the report.
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Each year when I share ETC's alternative gift list with my friends and family, people inevitably comment on the gift of a toilet. It seems so funny and so quaint. They ask "Why is it so important to buy a toilet?"
The 2006 Human Development Report, titled "Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis" offers an answer. It shows that proper human-waste disposal is one of the strongest determinants of child survival around the world.
The report identifies two crucial factors that hinder progress on advancing good sanitation as a key public health issue: stigma and gender inequality. ETC has addressed these in our successful efforts by including sanitation, specifically toilet construction and use in our women's development programs.
The lowly toilet may seem an unlikely catalyst for human development, but the Report provides powerful evidence to show how it benefits people's well-being. Instead of being recognized as the international disgrace it is, the reality of open defecation is largely ignored at the policy level..
ETC's experience in Nepal bears this out. When we first began working communities to build toilets for families and in school compounds, we were often told that this was a useless exercise. "Don't waste your time," many so-called experts told us. "In six months people will be using the latrine for storage or to house their goats."
However, ETC's wellness approach makes the difference. Field staff visit women's groups, schools, and homes reinforcing the importance of proper sanitation and people in the local communities began viewing toilet use as modern and desirable. In fact, a recent evaluation of our first integrated rural project, in Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts, included interviews with 173 households. Of those, only three lacked a toilet. And a remarkable 21% of those families had made improvements to their facilities at their own expense since ETC's departure in 2002.
The UN report cites gender inequality is a second major impediment to progress. Again ETC's experience is reflected in its conclusions. The study, like our partner schools, finds that young girls, particularly after puberty, are less likely to attend classes if schools do not have suitable hygiene facilities. Therefore, toilet construction in school compounds has always been a priority for ETC.
Studies throughout Asia show that women consistently rank having a toilet high on their list of priorities for a life of dignity and good health, but their voices are seldom heard. Empowering women may be the most effective way to increase demand for sanitation, says the report.
So, what happens when you 'buy' a toilet from ETC's gift list? ETC purchases cement and the porcelain bowl of a squat toilet, the most common model used in Nepal. Local partners provide the other materials for the outhouse building and do all of the labor themselves. The end result is healthy families and brighter futures.