A new plan will provide toilets for 250,000 people in need

A new partnership between UNICEF and LIXIL, one of the world's largest suppliers of water and home products, aims to advance one of the following goals: 6, which advocates better access to drinking water and sanitation. About 2.3 billion people in the world currently do not have access to clean and safe toilets. In 2021, LIXIL and UNICEF want to reduce this number by 250 million. "There is no impossibility or lack of technology that is an obstacle to access," says Jin Montesano, LIXIL's Director of Public Affairs. "But it's a very complex issue that requires focusing more on solutions and partners to accelerate progress toward the goal."

By teaming up, LIXIL and UNICEF will be able to use their respective skills to fight sanitation access. both the demand and the supply. From three countries – Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania – UNICEF will use its field presence to launch education campaigns and consult with communities that currently do not have access to a toilet. According to Andres Franco, deputy director of private sector engagement with UNICEF, more than half of the world's population without access to good hygiene conditions lives outside urban areas. doing so is creating a demand for better sanitation, "says Franco.Lack of access to clean, good-quality toilets can have deleterious effects on communities, forcing people to defecate in the open, which pollutes the waterways and perpetuates the spread of diarrheal diseases that kill up to 288,000 young children each year.UN UNICEF teams in the three African countries will educate rural communities about the benefits of malaria. sanitation infrastructure to encourage use and end the practice of open defecation

"It is often difficult to overcome cultural barriers." Bring a family to the point where it says, "I want a toilet," says Franco, and it's often frustrating for people in communities to reach that point, and no toilet materializes for them. that intervenes the v While LIXIL manufactures a lot of high-end toilets, the manufacturer of the product has also developed a range of toilets called SaTo (short for "safe toilets") that are both affordable and can work independently of the company. 39, sanitation infrastructure – because most areas of the developing world that this initiative seeks to reach do not have plumbing. The toilets only require half a cup of water per use for rinsing, and feature a self-sealing "hatch" that eliminates odors and flies – two major obstacles to use. And because they are made with simple materials, they are extremely inexpensive to manufacture and install.

SaTo has received funding from the Gates Foundation and already serves approximately 6 million people in Asia and Africa. In Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania, LIXIL representatives will work with communities and families to determine which SaTo toilets will best meet their needs and install them for them. Over the next few years, LIXIL plans to deploy up to 50,000 SaTo units in the three target countries, using its own financial resources to do so.

"UNICEF and LIXIL have complementary strengths – UNICEF is an expert at working with communities and creating demand, and LIXIL knows how to make innovative toilets," says Montesano. working together and going from community to community, we will be able to tackle the problem a lot better than we could before, by working independently of the goals of the individual companies and simply hoping for the best, that our products reach the people in need. "

Although this partnership is specifically focused on SDG 6, its implications for progress on the other SDGs could be significant, says Montesano. "Sanitation is a factor that affects so many other areas – health, but also education: we know that girls drop out of school once they have their own. rules if they do not have a clean and safe place to look after themselves, "she says. Although 250,000 represent only a fraction of the 2, 3 billion people in need, Montesano and Franco believe that if they can prove that this partnership works, it will lead them to reach many others by 2030 – target date for the SDGs.