Sustainable Toilet Sanitation Programme
HARPIC AND SAVE THE CHILDREN
Did you know that in India, more people have access to cell phones than toilets?*
That’s right, toilets! While India is booming, certain basics like access to sanitation are still critically poor. In fact, 1.7 million children died in 2010 from preventable diseases such as diarrhoea, often caused by poor sanitation and lack of access to safe water. To compound the issue, girls in school often do not have separate toilets and the absence of adequate hygiene, privacy and safety discourages them from attending class, affecting their possibility of a bright future.
- Photographer: Save the Children
That’s why, as the leading toilet cleaner in India, Harpic feel that we have a responsibility to make a difference. Our vision is a world where everyone has access to a clean and safe toilet. We know we can’t do it alone, so we have found a passionate partner to help us take the first step to improving the state of sanitation in India.
Save the Children is a non-profit organisation that has extensive experience of working in the poorest and most dangerous countries in the world. Their experience working with local communities and helping children beat deadly diseases is why we are supporting Save the Children implement a sanitation programme that is going to make a lasting impact on the lives of families and their children. So, how are we going to make this change?
- Photographer: Parth Sanyal, Save the Children
Well first, we need to get some basic infrastructure to where it’s needed. Harpic and Save the Children will be providing households and schools in rural and urban areas in India, with safe, appropriate and easily manageable water and sanitation facilities.
But that’s not all, we plan to run community campaigns and education programmes across these areas that will help local communities to understand and improve their hygiene and sanitation practices.
We also need this plan to be sustainable, and that’s why will be supporting local communities and advocating to the government to take ownership and maintain these new facilities.
- Photographer: Sanjit Das/Panos, Save the Children
And finally, we will be supporting the cause by lobbying for the government to invest more in sponsoring programmes on environmental health, hygiene and sanitation.
Over the next 4 years, Harpic and Save the Children are committed to making a difference. We hope to have indirectly benefited an estimated 73,500 people and 500,000 community members through awareness raising in the first year alone. There are ways that you can help too.
Watch this space for more information on our progress and soon you’ll be able to find out how you can support our sustainable sanitation programme and truly make a difference to the health, dignity and life of those in need.
*UNITED NATIONS, 2011. The Millennium Development Goals Report.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=34369#.UMHU0eRWzTo
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/11_MDG%20Report_EN.pdf
