Tamil Nadu: eco‐san toilet promoter Sridharan

Varadharajapuram is a village on the banks of River Kaveri in Thottiyam Block of Tiruchirappalli District, Tamil Nadu, India. Being a water‐logged area because of the closeness to the river, people in the village cannot construct low‐cost toilet models. Except five families, the remaining families were practicing open defecation on the river banks and on the road sides leading to the banana groves.

Sridharan, a 32 year old youth, one day had a chance to attend a village meeting of women self‐help groups formed by Gramalaya, a local NGO. The field staff from Gramalaya was talking about the formation of Association for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (AWASH ) committees in the village. They also briefed the women  about the dangers of open defecation nearby the water bodies and the importance of having toilets at the households.

Can we close the loop by making money from poop? Gladys Quispe thinks so

I wipe the dust from my eyes for what feels like the hundredth time, resist the urge to scratch the nagging bites around my ankles, and lean in closer to hear what Gladys Quispe has to say, as the squeaking pigs and clucking chickens compete with the feisty Bolivian woman. We have found the only shade in her patio underneath a banana grove on this unusually hot morning. We’ve been out since 5:30 a.m., as many people leave to work in the fields by 8 a.m.. Gladys doesn’t know it, but she’s famous. Word that a woman had organized other women in her barrio into a woman-run business had reached me and I was eager to meet the ‘compost’ lady.

Gladys Quispe, the ‘compost’ lady

In San Pedro, Bolivia, a town of mostly migrants from other parts of Bolivia, we are here to listen, learn, and improve our sanitation programming.

Changing Socio cultural practices related to Sanitation in India

As far back as 1997, remote villages in Uttarakhnad (Himalayan mountain region)women were unwilling to get married into the households where some privacy for sanitation was not available.
Same communities reported that having migrant sons in service in other towns, the families would be reluctant to travel to the village to visit or stay for any length of time if there was no toilet facility- when we travelled to understand the initiatives related to infrastructure and development in the region, we found man of these toilets locked or used for storage of grass- to keep the grass dry.