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Great work. From my visits to Indian villages, open defecation seems more of a choice that the people make. Even though people have toilets in their houses, th

Great work. From my visits to Indian villages, open defecation seems more of a choice that the people make. Even though people have toilets in their houses, they still prefer not using it. Of course not everyone has access, but even the ones who do prefer not using it. Another issue with public toilets I can think of is hygiene. How do you educate a large population to use toilets and use it reasonably, otherwise it would be a disaster for the maintainers and the public. The point is, most people would be first time users. Another issue is to do with social status and the caste system. How do you plan to get people belonging to different social strata and castes(yes, it still exists!) to use the same toilet. Could you share your experiences regarding this issue so far?

sanrights 11y ago
Thanks! You bring up some great points! In the communities where we work right now, the vast majority of people don't have toilets in their homes, and they do understand the importance of using toilets. Right now, the government offers a reimbursement program for families who build a toilet for their house, but most people cannot afford this upfront cost and see corruption diminish the amount (if/when) they're paid back. Another big issue is land ownership - if families don't own the land they live on, this significant investment doesn't make a lot of financial sense. We see our role standing in solidarity with Indians making these tough decisions with incredible social, health, and economic outcomes. You rightly pointed out maintenance as another key issue! We sell safe drinking water from our sites and use that revenue to pay for the facility to be cleaned 2x a day and maintained by our staff. We're tracking daily toilet users and see that people use our facility consistently. There is definitely still social stigma connecting handling human waste and those at the bottom of the caste system. Our model is designed with this understanding. Waste is disposed of directly from the toilet pan into our biogas digester to decompose, so no humans have to handle the waste. We've also have hired members of these communities to work with us, and have seen them promoted and earning more money than the would in another other role.

sanrights 11y ago

Thanks! You bring up some great points! In the communities where we work right now, the vast majority of people don't have toilets in their homes, and they do understand the importance of using toilets. Right now, the government offers a reimbursement program for families who build a toilet for their house, but most people cannot afford this upfront cost and see corruption diminish the amount (if/when) they're paid back. Another big issue is land ownership - if families don't own the land they live on, this significant investment doesn't make a lot of financial sense. We see our role standing in solidarity with Indians making these tough decisions with incredible social, health, and economic outcomes. You rightly pointed out maintenance as another key issue! We sell safe drinking water from our sites and use that revenue to pay for the facility to be cleaned 2x a day and maintained by our staff. We're tracking daily toilet users and see that people use our facility consistently. There is definitely still social stigma connecting handling human waste and those at the bottom of the caste system. Our model is designed with this understanding. Waste is disposed of directly from the toilet pan into our biogas digester to decompose, so no humans have to handle the waste. We've also have hired members of these communities to work with us, and have seen them promoted and earning more money than the would in another other role.