Global WASH Campaign materials & International Year of Sanitation
In recognition of the urgent need for greater political awareness and action on sanitation, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation (IYS). For the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, the IYS provided a unique opportunity to support and enhance its advocacy efforts. WSSCC developed new global WASH campaign materials that created brisk demand. The "Hurry Up! 2.6 billion people are waiting to go to the toilet" poster/postcard series was particularly popular. It was translated into local languages and displayed at several exhibitions. Modified WASH Campaign materials became signboards on web pages as part of water and sanitation related projects… Be inspired!
Translated and Modified WASH Campaign Materials
- The Ukraine National WASH Coalition launched and disseminated own booklets and leaflets on the IYS.
- The Non-Governmental Environment Organization Alihuen, Argentina, launched a campaign on water quality preservation in their province. As part of that project Alihuen presents the WASH campaign poster "1.2 billion people drink dirty water every day" on its web page.
- Caritas Luxembourg joined the "Hurry up!" and IYS posters.
Print Media
Mr Atul Deulgaonkar used WASH campaign materials in his article Unhygienic TOILETS wreak havoc in INDIA, published in INDIA INSIGHT dated 17 October 2008 (pp 24-26). He wrote on the need for clean toilets in India.
Exhibitions and Events
Switzerland also got involved with the International Year of Sanitation and a number of organisations joined forces for the Swiss campaign for sanitation: the campaign launched several national activities, such as the travelling exhibition "Different Visions of Sanitation", which included - amongst others - WSSCC's WASH Campaign posters. "Different Visions of Sanitation" was also presented at the International Expo "Water and Sustainable Development" in Zaragoza (1-14 September).
Engineers Without Borders, Queensland, organised an art exhibition of 100 decorated toilet pans in Brisbane on World Toilet Day, 19 November 2008. The WASH advocacy materials framed the extravagant toilets.
The French youth and culture center MJC de Castelnau le Lez held the event H2O: l'eau et les hommes (H20: water and men, 6-29 November 2008). In the course of conferences and an exhibition looking into the unique molecule H2O, WASH postcards and posters were distributed and displayed.
Within the framework of the Millennium Development Goals and the International Year of Sanitation, a Belgian school put the spotlight on sanitation. The WASH Campaign posters decorated the school walls while the students of the highest grade received a set of postcards.
In February 2009, the organization Messages pour la terre presented the WASH posters at the exhibition "images d'eau, un itinéraire" (water pictures, an itinerary) in the French public science and technology research institute IRD.
The exhibition "Volle Pulle" (flat out) travels in a water truck through Germany. It broaches the issues of sewerage, virtual water, business with water and climate. The truck including WSSCC's WASH Campaign posters will keep on moving until October 2009.
