HUL launches Domex Toilet Academy; To build 24k toilets by 2015

Domex, the leading toilet cleaner brand of Hindustan Unilever Lever (HUL), has announced the launch of Domex Toilet Academy (DTA) to mark the occasion of World Toilet Day which is celebrated globally on November 19th every year. The academy aims to build 24,000 toilets by 2015 in areas faced with the problem of open defecation and where people do not have access to improved sanitation. DTA’s ambition is to help eradicate open defecation and thus achieve 100% access to improved sanitation and educate people about the importance of safe and hygienic sanitation practices.

Domex Toilet Academy has launched a pilot project in Junapani, a village in Wardha district in Maharashtra to make it open defecation free. DTA has already set up toilets benefitting several households in the village and is working to set up 80 toilets by the end of 2013 and thus make Junapani an open defecation free village. The programme will be expanded to cover 1,200 villages in Maharashtra and Odisha and aims to build 24,000 toilets by 2015.

For the Domex Toilet Academy, Domex has partnered with eKutir Rural Management Services Private Limited, a well established social enterprise with strong execution capabilities in the area of sanitation. The project is based on a unique community partnership model to make this project scalable and self sustainable. DTA and eKutir identify and train local micro-entrepreneurs who will help execute the project in their local communities by supplying and installing latrines. The entrepreneurs are provided seed capital by DTA through eKutir to set up a local sanitation centre and help with operational costs for the execution of the project. DTA will work with local self help groups who educate people on the importance of proper sanitation and provide them access to micro-loans through micro-finance institutions to buy the toilets from the local micro-entrepreneur appointed by DTA.

Domex Toilet Academy is also partnering with the local self help groups to spread awareness among villagers about the importance of safe and hygienic sanitation.  DTA is working with a network of 12,000 women self help groups across Vidarbha, Maharashtra through an NGO Nageshwara Charitable Trust. The awareness programmes target children, women and community groups to raise awareness on safe and hygienic sanitation.

India is faced with a serious health hazard due to widespread phenomena of open defecation. The World Health Organization and United Nations Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) estimate that there are more than 620 million people practising open defecation due to lack of access to proper sanitation. In fact, 60% of all open defecations in the world are in India. As per the 2011 census data the percentage of households in rural India with access to toilets is lesser compared to those with access to telephones.

Lack of access to hygienic sanitation is one of the key causes of high incidence diarrhoea in India, particularly among children. More than 600,000 children in India do not reach the age of five due to diarrhoea and pneumonia - almost 30% of the global total.

Speaking about the launch of Domex Toilet Academy, Hemant Bakshi, Executive Director-Home & Personal Care, HUL, said, “We realize the importance of the need for safe and hygienic sanitation practices in India. We believe that we have an important role to play to help make our communities open defecation free. As a brand Domex helps kill all known toilet germs, ensuring that toilets are free of diseases & safe to use.”

“We are pleased to launch Domex Toilet Academy which has taken up the cause of educating people on the importance of hygienic sanitation and also helping them to get access to improved sanitation. This initiative is part of Domex’s mission to reduce diarrhoea deaths in children under the age of 5 by eradicating open defecation in India. The DTA model allows for a virtuous circle of continuously expanding and scaling the project in a win-win manner for all stakeholders and helps provide a self sustaining long term solution to address the problem of open-defecation in India,” he added.
Domex is the first ever sponsor of the World Toilet Day, observed internationally on November 19, every year and has partnered with World Toilet Organisation (WTO), a global non-profit organisation committed to improving toilet and sanitation conditions to raise awareness of sanitation and good hygiene worldwide.