Two new (and interesting) articles about open defecation in India
— Blog Post — 1 min read
Thorsten Kiefer, founder & CEO of WASH United, has an article in Forbes, called "Why Innovative Campaigning Is Critical To Fixing Sanitation In India". There is a paragraph that I particularly like:
Kevin Shane, a colleague from Indian innovation consultancyQuicksand who leads a sanitation innovation project in Bhubaneswar/Orissa, recently told me about a project visit with a delegation from Yale university. Standing outside his house, a community leader directed his American guests to a lush, green field, where he proudly declared: “this is my toilet. I bet your president Obama doesn’t have a toilet as beautiful as mine.”
Consultants at Dalberg also have an article on the NextBillion website. They have a conclusion we agree with:
Success in curbing open defecation can only be achieved by generating demand for toilets through a consistent focus on behavior change. Infrastructure-focused programs are by themselves inadequate in solving the problem of open defecation. The Indian government needs to remember this lesson as it embarks on an ambitious path to provide a toilet to every household.