Global Handwashing Day and World Toilet Day each provided legitimacy for local communities in Accra to promote their own sanitation programs. I'm glad to see the "big data" with stats from google and wikipedia, and wish we could put alongside that the 100s of 1,000s of local events that may have impacted decisions and actions locally. I see the value in the urban poor districts of Accra I follow and appreciate reading about other local events held to mark the day.

Hi Elisabeth,

Using Google trends you see spikes in web searches for both World Toilet Day and Global Handwashing Day.

Wow, the same graph that I had posted above, this time AFTER World Toilet Day (i.e. from today) looks completely different (source: stats.grok.se/en/latest90/World_Toilet_Day):



This means that on World Toilet Day itself (19 Nov) nearly 19,000 people turned to Wikipedia to find out more about this UN day! (and who knows if their increase led to good knock-on effects; one would hope so).

My conclusions:

• The media attention around World Toilet Day worked and resulted in 19,000 people looking for more information on Wikipedia.
• The attention and interest was short-lived because the spike is very pronounced and just one day long.

I think it was worth ensuring that the page that people found was quite good (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Toilet_Day), and I hope it will become even better by the time World Toilet Day comes around in 2016!

I wonder if others have done detailed analyses on how the media picked up on World Toilet Day this year and then also compared to previous years? Do these UN Days "work"? Does this particular UN Day work for us in the sanitation & hygiene sector? I think they do, but do have any evidence or at least anecdotes/stories that people could share here?

Hi Kris (and all),
Yes, please. World Toilet Day is just around the corner. Not too late yet to improve its Wikipedia page! This is how it looks like right now:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Toilet_Day

Still a bit short. But perhaps short and snazzy is good. Any suggestions on how to improve it further? Feeling inspired? Then please go ahead and click on the "edit" button in Wikipedia.

Regards,
Elisabeth

P.S. Here you can see the click rates: stats.grok.se/en/latest90/World_Toilet_Day

Click rates are going up as we're approaching the day. The large peak was on 15 October on Global Handwashing Day which seemed to have inspired people to also look at the page for World toilet Day.

Note by moderator: This post was initially in this thread about Global Handwashing Day:
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/23-hyg...-15-october-feedback

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Next stop World Toilet Day (19th of November?):
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Toilet_Day
(Nice picture Elisabeth )

Hello everyone!

I wanted to bring to your attention that ahead of World Toilet Day this year we have created a new wikipedia page for the international day. You can see the page here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Toilet_Day

Anyone is welcome to make additions / edit the current page. If you aren't already a wikipedian this may be a good time to set up an account and join in!

Cheers,

Robyn

Hi Elisabeth,

Yes, unfortunately I couldn't attend the meeting so thank you very much for the video!

Unicef is well-represented in the TPA and working group this year, focal point for communication is Philippa Lysaght, but also Lizette Burgers and Michael Emerson Gnilo are involved. I have pointed this out to them, and will make sure edits are made.

It may also be Robyn Waite (WaterAid) who will edit the wiki page (also is in the working group).
We just received the latest facts and figures, so my hope is that the wiki page will be updated next week.
And, as I said earlier - I really appreciate if you list suggested improvements in the talk page.


Thank you so much for everything and very nice to meet you (though virtually)!
Anna

Do you also have people from UNICEF in that group? At the last SuSanA meeting there was Lizette Burgers from UNICEF who spoke about the messages for this year's World Toilet Day, see here:
www.susana.org/en/events/susana-meetings...na-meeting-stockholm

or direct link:
www.susana.org/images/documents/04-meeti...ssages_Session_3.pdf

Somewhere in the video on that page you can also see how I asked the question via twitter if they will update the Wikipedia page and Lizette said "yes, we are working on that" (but so far I haven't seen any edits from their team on the page?).



Regards,
Elisabeth

Dear Elisabeth,

Thank you so much for the prompt answer and input - very appreciated!

Regarding your question, yes colleagues in the World Toilet Day working group will work on the wiki during the next couple of weeks, and I will make sure they use the talk page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:World_Toilet_Day

So please list all your comments, ideas etc there!

Thank you so much once again!

Best regards,
Anna

Dear Anna,

Great to see your post here. It's prompted me to create a sub-category for World Toilet Day (under "public awareness raising") which is where I have moved it to.

Does your communications plan also include ensuring that we have an excellent, up to date Wikipedia page for this?
Myself and a few others have already worked on it, see here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Toilet_Day

But it could definetely do with more improvements. Possible improvements could be listed here in this thread or be discussed on the talk page of the article:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:World_Toilet_Day

If you have any questions about editing Wikipedia pages, please don't hesitate to ask. The key thing to keep in mind is that Wikipedia articles are not meant to be "promotional pieces" but to provide objective, neutral, encyclopedic-style information.

I can guarantee you that many journalists and some members of the public will look up World Toilet Day on Wikipedia around the 19 November, so we might as well have a good, solid page - do you agree?

Kind regards,
Elisabeth

Note by moderator: as this year's World Toilet Day had the theme WASH and nutrition, you also find relevant posts in this sub-category: forum.susana.org/forum/categories/92-nutrition-and-wash

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Dear all,

As you know, World Toilet Day is a day to take action. It is a day to raise awareness about all people who do not have access to a toilet - despite the human right to water and sanitation. It is a day to do something about it. Of the world’s seven billion people, 2.4 billion people do not use a basic toilet. Almost 1 billion people still defecate in the open. Without good sanitation, women and children are particularly at risk of disease and malnutrition. We can’t wait to change this situation. We must speak up and end the global sanitation crisis.

This is why the United Nations General Assembly in 2013 designated 19 November as World Toilet Day. World Toilet Day is coordinated by UN-Water in collaboration with Governments and relevant stakeholders. Stakeholders like you.

As the World Toilet Day website is a global hub for activities and resources related to World Toilet Day, we would love to showcase any relevant work you may have related to this year's theme, "Toilets and Nutrition.” Please take a minute to send us links to publications, reports, videos, infographics, as well as information about upcoming initiatives, activities and events you plan to host.

The re-launch of the World Toilet Day website is just around the corner and in the meantime, we have prepared a communication package that includes the social media kit, the official logo, banners and buttons for websites along with usage guidelines to help familiarize you with the campaign. We hope you will use these materials and let us know if there are other resources you would find helpful. You may access the package on bit.ly/WTD_2015


For more information about our work and the World Toilet Day campaign in specific, do subscribe to our news feed and follow us on Twitter , Facebook and Instagram. Instagram


Thank you!
Anna

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Anna Nylander Norén
Communications Specialist, UN-Water
Mobile: +46 760 100 575
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.unwater.org