World Toilet Organization Receives Urban Innovation Grant to Help Solve Global Sanitation Problems: NGO Encourages Business Models that Facilitate Entrepreneurial Solutions for the Poor

SINGAPORE, The Rockefeller Foundation of New York has awarded a Networks for Urban Innovation grant of US $140,150 [196,769 SGD] to Singapore-based non-profit, World Toilet Organization [WTO], to expand its mission and capacity to help solve the catastrophic sanitation problems of the world's poor. With this support, WTO is expanding its advocacy and research into finding broad, market-based solutions to address the needs of an estimated 2.5 billion people who do not have access to adequate sanitation in the world.

Since 2001, WTO has been raising awareness about the health risks of living without proper sanitation. Where toilets are not available, people often defecate in the open, in rivers or near areas where children play or food is prepared. This greatly increases the risk of transmission of diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, and hepatitis A. According to the World Health Organization, diarrhea kills 1.5 million children every year, and studies show that improved sanitation reduces diarrhea death rates by a third.

Entrepreneurial Solutions

To solve the sanitation deficit, the team at World Toilet Organization wants to do more than provide toilets. In their work, they have found that toilets donated through the traditional charity model often go unused by the communities for whom they are intended, or they fall into disrepair.

"The donor model doesn't work on a large scale," asserts Jack Sim, entrepreneur, Ashoka fellow, and founder of the World Toilet Organization. "It lacks the sustainability and continuity that comes from mobilizing a community to produce, market, sell, distribute and maintain their own sanitation products."

The 2.5 billion of the world's inhabitants who live without the benefit of proper sanitation are a part of the base of the global economic pyramid. As a consumer group, this market is called the "bottom/base of the pyramid" or BOP. This term was coined by management guru CK Prahalad to describe the 40% of the world's population who live on less than $2 USD per day.

WTO has embraced Prahalad's market philosophy -- that great progress can be made in alleviating poverty by inviting the poor into the formal economy. In terms of sanitation, that means providing the poor with access to quality toilets at affordable prices, often facilitated through private-public sector partnership models. On-going success in this market strategy has demonstrated that this approach can outpace charity alone in elevating hygiene standards worldwide.

"By using creative social marketing messages, innovating cheaper toilet designs and assisting local suppliers, WTO can help create demand for toilets, and work with local enterprises to grow their businesses while meeting this demand," says Danielle Pedi, who manages WTO's base-of-the-pyramid market development project in Cambodia. "Many people believe they cannot afford a toilet because the few available products are out of their price range. However, when we can help businesses supply products and services that are desirable and affordable for households, and easily purchased locally, demand for toilets increases exponentially."

Scaling Up the Market Response

Jack Sim believes it's time to build on the success of base-of-the-pyramid sanitation marketing operations like the one headed by Pedi in Cambodia. Capitalizing on the growing global interest in enterprise-based strategies for serving the BOP, Sim has been bringing together leading business managers, social entrepreneurs, academics, design and marketing teams as well as non-profit leaders to help WTO create an appealing, easily replicable franchise model for sanitation retail catering to BOP consumers.

Referring to the classic Chinese proverb, Sim states, "You can give a man a fish and feed him for a day, or teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. We want to do more than this. We need to revolutionize the fishing industry! By helping establish complete supply chains in sanitation for the poor, we can generate jobs with sustainability in production, installation, distribution, maintenance and sales."

With the largest segment of the global BOP market living in Asia, the team at WTO thinks Singapore is an ideal hub for design, marketing and distribution of goods catering to this largely ignored consumer group. As a by-product of their work to provide toilets for those in need, WTO has become an advocate of economic outreach to the poor that is more than mere charity, and is leading the way in creating business models that incorporate the voices of those at the base of the pyramid.

If you'd like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with World Toilet Organization founder, Jack Sim, or Danielle Pedi, please call Claudia Powers at +65 6352-8921.
Notes to the Editor

1) World Toilet Organization (WTO) is a global non-profit organization committed to improving toilet and sanitation conditions worldwide. WTO is also one of the few organizations to focus on toilets instead of water, which receives more attention and resources under the common subject of sanitation. Founded in 2001 with 15 members, it now has 235 member organizations in 58 countries working towards eliminating the toilet taboo and delivering sustainable sanitation.
WTO was created as a global network and service platform wherein all toilet and sanitation organizations can learn from one another and leverage on media and global support that in turn can influence governments to promote sound sanitation and public health policies.

2) The Rockefeller Foundation fosters innovative solutions to many of the world's most pressing challenges, affirming its mission, since 1913, to "promote the well-being" of humanity. Today, the Foundation works to ensure that more people can tap into the benefits of globalization while strengthening resilience to its risks. Foundation initiatives include efforts to mobilize an agricultural revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa, bolster economic security for American workers, inform equitable, sustainable transportation policies in the United States, ensure access to affordable and high-quality health systems in developing countries, accelerate the impact investing industry's evolution, and develop strategies and services that help vulnerable communities cope with the impacts of climate change. For more information, please visit www.rockefellerfoundation.org.