Dear SuSanA Community,

On the occasion of World Toilet Day 2018, GTO produced a short film on this event. Please find below the link to the film. German and English subtitles are available.


Best,
Bea (on behalf of the GTO team)

Dear SuSanA Community,

On the occasion of World Toilet Day 2018, GTO organised a demonstration with pupils in Berlin in order to raise awareness around sanitation in schools worldwide. Please find the press release below.

Best,
Jona and Bea (on behalf of the GTO team)



Press Release von World Toilet Day 2018
by the German Toilet Organization



Hot Topic: School Toilets
Berlin Pupils Demonstrate for Better School Toilets Worldwide

Berlin, 19 Nov 2018 - On World Toilet Day 2018, the German Toilet Organization (GTO) and pupils from three schools in Berlin organised a press conference and public march, demanding better school sanitation, worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), every third school in the world lacks safely-managed sanitation and handwashing with soap is only possible at half of the schools.

On their march through Berlin's city centre, the pupils carried hand-painted toilet seats with messages, broken toilet bowls and even a self-built school toilet stall. They shouted their demand for clean, safe and hygienic school toilets for all children worldwide.

The demonstration ended at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), where the pupils delivered their messages to Parliamentary State Secretary Norbert Barthle. State Secretary Barthle thanked the pupils for their commitment and stressed the importance of safely managed sanitation for a hygienic school environment and for the development of children. He stressed that the BMZ would continue to support this issue in the future: "Access to sanitation is not only a question of hygiene and health, but also a question of human dignity. The issue is of particular importance to girls and young women. This is why we not only support the construction of school toilets with our own development cooperation, but also want to raise awareness of the problem as a whole".

To draw attention to the issue, GTO had placed a 1:1 model of a restroom in the driveway of the ministry. Inside the toilet stall, one can view a video, where pupils from Uganda and Pakistan describe the situation. In both countries, GTO is currently running school toilet competitions in collaboration with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). The "Toilets Making the Grade" in Uganda and Pakistan are inspired by the “Toiletten Machen Schule" school competitions, which GTO initiated in Germany.

Following the event, State Secretary Barthle received experts from the GTO and GIZ to discuss the potential of such innovative solutions and their ability to be transferred to other countries.

According to UNICEF, 620 million pupils have no basic sanitation at their schools. Hand washing facilities with soap are unavailable at half of all schools worldwide. This means that millions of children and young people attend schools in an unsafe learning environment. School toilets without privacy and access to hygiene cause millions of girls to stay away from school during their menstrual periods –4 to 5 days per month.

In Sustainable Development Goal 6 – clean water and sanitation for all – of the global development agenda, the international community, including Germany, strives to ensure that all people have access to sanitation by 2030. In 2010 sanitation was declared a human right.

The event was part of the global learning project “Toiletised World” of the German Toilet Organization. Pupils from the Alfred Nobel School, the Solling School and the Carlo Schmidt Secondary School participated.

GTO and the GIZ are running school competitions in Pakistan and Uganda in fall 2018 and spring 2019. The competitions are part of the global project "Sanitation for Millions", which GIZ is carrying out on behalf of the BMZ.

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Contact

German Toilet Organization e.V.
Johannes Rück
Fon +49 (0)30.4193 4377
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The development education programme "Toiletised World" is financially supported by ENGAGEMENT GLOBAL with funds from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Protestant Church Development Service and the State Agency for Development Cooperation (LEZ) with funds from the State of Berlin. We would also like to thank CWS-boco for their kind support.

The German Toilet Organization e.V. (GTO) is a non-profit association, which was founded in October 2005 in Berlin. The GTO is active as a Non-governmental-organization in the fields of developmental collaboration, humanitarian aid, health and environmental protection. The vision of the GTO is equal access to clean toilets and sustainable sanitation for all humans. For this purpose, the GTO carries out projects, campaigns and educational events in Germany and abroad. More information: www.germantoilet.org/en

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