World Toilet Day celebrated

The EWP procession lorry in Mali took the demonstration through the capital, Bamako.

Credit: WaterAid in Mali

27 November 2008

This year for World Toilet Day WaterAid in Mali held awareness raising events to highlight that 2.5 billion people worldwide still live without access to safe, private toilets.

Armed with the slogan "Latrines, a basic right for all" the End Water Poverty Campaign group in Mali held a television debate and a procession through the capital city Bamako. Through these activities the group aimed to reach key decision makers to reinforce commitments made to sanitation in the Millennium Development Goals.

"The entire End Water Poverty campaign group got involved in organising the debate and procession to make the voices of the poor heard," said Abdourahmane Coulibaly, WaterAid's Communication and Campaigns Officer in Mali.

The debate panel was made up of the National Director of Sanitation, the President and the General Secretary of the EWP Campaign Steering Committee, and the Head of Policy of WaterAid in Mali, Kadiatou Aw.

The EWP procession drove a lorry covered in banners through the city and held presentations to raise public awareness of the rights and responsibilities of access to toilets and the link between sanitation and poverty reduction.

The procession ended in front of the Ministry of Environment and Sanitation where a declaration was given to the Minister to appeal to him to renew their commitments.