It is the most wonderful time of the year! November 19th is World Toilet Day, and we hope you'll celebrate with us or others.
This year, UN-Water has deemed the holiday's theme as: Accelerating Change. This is specifically about SDG6.2.
Don't know what that means? Don't worry - we've got you. The United Nations have a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to achieve by 2030. These SDGs include peacekeeping to ensure kids are healthy and going to school. SDG6.2 targets sanitation - "By 2030, achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations."
There are many virtual and in-person World Toilet Day celebrations globally. Below we are sharing a few different celebrations in which you can participate. Check out our list of ways to have World Toilet Day celebrations.
Events:
Before Nov 19th
ONLINE (IN): Friends in Need will be training volunteers to run toilet-related quizzes on World Toilet Day. Watch this space!
ONLINE: Our colleagues at the FSM Alliance are hosting a French webinar on sanitation services in Burkina Faso on November 2nd. Sign up and learn some technical toilet stuff!
ONLINE: Water for People is hosting a Waterside Chat about sanitation on November 15th in honor of the day. Sign up for this exciting chat, which will be in English and Spanish.
HYBRID (NG): The Green Institute is hosting a local hybrid conference in Nairobi on November 16th to discuss principles and strategies for accelerating change.
IN-PERSON (CA): The Hamilton Museum of Steam and Technology are running a Grab-and-Go Activity Kit event! Each kit includes a miniature craft, an experiment kit investigating ‘flushables’ courtesy of our friends at Hamilton Water and more.
Nov 19th
ONLINE: Join storyteller and song-writer Rosalind Buck to listen to fun tales about toilets. Sounds cheeky!
ONLINE: FLUSH is going to host a 2-hour virtual game Zoom! We will have "Name that Show", trivia, and improv origami at 12pm EST/9am PST.
IN-PERSON (US): Our friends at The POOP Project are co-hosting another comedy night in Washington, DC at 4pm EST, called Loo Aid! Join them with Griefcat and Throne to ring in the celebrations.
IN-PERSON (NL): A meetup group in Amsterdam called Climate Garden will celebrate the special day in De KasKantine. Tell us how it goes!
After Nov 19th
ONLINE: IWRA is holding a webinar on November 21st. The topic is about Accelerating Change in Sanitation.
ONLINE: The Permanent Missions of Singapore and India, UNICEF, and UN-Water are holding a webinar on November 21st. The topic will be about Climate-Resilient Sanitation.
Personal (Online) Activities
Here are some things you can do to make World Toilet Day an everyday celebration:
Watch this short film about the dangerous job of sewer workers. This 6-minute documentary focuses on South Asia!
Answer the question, could we talk about toilets better? - Our 2022 summer intern wrote an analysis about how we Google toilet-related topics, and it's fascinating!
Inspire yourself by watching hot takes from toilet professionals - Our friends at PooAndU have been collecting some great stories from toilet nerds.
Learn about toilets in our (new & improved) Education Portal - From types of toilets to history timelines.
Request a fun toilet class - We have many online class options for adults and kids.
Read some of our toilet thoughts in our regularly-updated blog - We've got posts from this year about toilet tourism and exploring toilet concepts!
Sing along to our World Toilet Day playlist - Lots of these tunes are quite catchy! And yes, we do keep updating it.
Review the articles and stories from UN-Water - They have some expert events up there, too!
Loo Book Club's Toilet Reading List
With personal activities, maybe you just want to sit down to a good toilet book! Check out the Loo Book Club's Toilet reading list, with our past reviews linked:
Have a fun event or resource you'd like to share with the world about toilets? Email us, and we'll update this post with your info!