Globally 2.3 billion people lack access to basic toilet facilities and India is the open defecation capital of the world with 600 million people practicing it. Open defecation, increases the risk of diarrheal diseases, fatally affecting children under the age of 5 living in the BoP communities. Moreover, women of all ages and children remain at the risk of being sexually abused when they use open spaces in the dark hours to relieve themselves. Furthermore, with rapid urbanization and the number of slum dwellers increasing globally by 120000 every week, the problem is increasing rapidly. This leads to overloading of already crumbling and non-existent public infrastructure.
GARV Toilets is an idea to transform the public/community toilet landscape in the urban and peri-urban areas, specifically catering to the low-income, under-served communities by resolving the prime issues related to usage namely, vandalism and improper maintenance through design innovation, technology integration and involvement of communities.
By providing access to clean and well-maintained sanitation services to people in BoP communities, GARV is able to restore the pride of a people whose dignity was compromised by the lack of proper sanitation facilities. By setting up toilets in schools we are able to ensure that children, especially the adolescent girls, did not drop out of schools due to lack of access to toilet facilities. Through our She-toilets, women enjoy sanitation services in busy market areas. Through awareness campaigns that we coordinate with our NGO partners we are also able to change the hygiene behaviour of the communities we work with.
4
Countries
318
Locations
2800+
Toilets
200,000+
Daily users
-Better India
-ET Rise
-Your Story
-Better India
-BBC FUTURE
-BBC
-IRC Wash
-NDTV
-Cambridge University