IAS promotes World Toilet Day on the streets and online
Activities to publicize the date promoted by the UN to raise awareness of sanitation problems included artistic activism, a cycle of debates and a series of videos
Published in 29 Nov 2023
Written by By the IAS team
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In the days leading up to World Toilet Day, on November 19, São Paulo residents were surprised by toilet seats fixed to lampposts, trash cans and trees.
On each of the decorated seats there was a QR Code to access an IAS website prepared especially for the occasion with data on Brazil's enormous sanitation problems.
Designed and distributed by the artist Mundano, the seats were part of a campaign carried out by IAS to promote 2023 World Toilet Day. It was an amusing way to create awareness on the streets of the date, its concept and this year's motto, "Accelerating Change". Mundano's video showing the seats reached 75 mil views no Instagram in only 10 days.
With phrases and data provided by IAS, Mundano also carried out artistic interventions in the toilets of his gallery and printed a series of stickers with references to sanitation. Among the phrases used were “Sewage deserves to be well treated” and “Sanitation is priority number 1 and number 2.”
With a creative and interactive layoutallows the user to browse through statistics that show the alarming sanitation problems in Brazil and their impact on children, health and the environment. It also provides ideas for possible solutions and what each citizen can do.
Mundano’s initiative was part of the World Toilet Day awareness campaign. In all, 31 organizations partnered with IAS in the WTD activities. In a collective effort, the network spreads information about World Toilet Day on its sites and on social networks, with data on sanitation and specific hashtags.
The many talks on sanitation
In addition, on November 22 and 23, IAS, in partnership with Rede Saneamento Tem Solução (Solutions for Sanitation Network)(Solutions for Sanitation Network), organized the 4th edition of the World Toilet Day Round of Debates, with six panels and a total of 26 participants, including activists, academics, technicians and representatives of companies, public authorities and NGOs. The host of each session was a member of the Rede Saneamento tem Solução network. host, participante da Rede Saneamento tem Solução.
The first day began with the “Technologies collaborating with sanitation” panel, hosted by Instituto Iguá host e abordou soluções inovadoras em prol da universalização do saneamento básico. Depois, Fundação Tide Setubal e Saneamento Inclusivo apresentaram uma discussão sobre acesso a esgoto tratado em áreas urbanas precarizadas. O dia foi concluído com uma mesa em que a pauta era os desafios da área na era das mudanças climáticas, que teve como host a ONG de mulheres Mandi.
On the second day, the opening topic was rural sanitation, rarely mentioned in company and government plans, with a panel hosted by Fundación Avina. This was followed by a discussion led by IAS on the importance of data in public policy planning to universalize sanitation. The round ended with a discussion hosted by Fernanda Deister, of the Minas Gerais Federal University, on the urgent problem for cities of who should take responsibility for public toilets, of which there are very few in Brazilian public spaces.
The debates were transmitted live on the IAS YouTube channel and can be accessed there at any moment Using this linkyou can consult the schedule and watch the videos.
Inspiring sanitation solutions
Another axis of the campaign included three new video episodes of the Projects and Initiatives Series, featuring inspirational stories that show there are sanitation solutions for everyone, everywhere.
Produced by the IAS to support the Rede Saneamento Tem Solução network, the new videos display stories of struggle, interviews with experts and impactful images. All are available on the IAS YouTube channel, along with previous episodes of the series.
The initiatives include the WASH project, coordinated by Habitat Brasil, which promotes improvements in homes with a focus on toilets; Ninho Social, which provides access to water for the homeless population in the center of São Paulo; and a project to implement sanitation run by Sapiência Ambiental in indigenous villages in the southern outskirts of the city of São Paulo.
We invite you to browse through IAS content on our World Toilet Day website and YouTube channel.