science

World Toilet Organization

World Toilet Organization is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand World Toilet Organization rather than just read about it. In short: The World Toilet Organization (WTO) is a global non-profit organization whose goal is to improve toilet and sanitation conditions worldwide. It was founded in 2001 with 15 members and has now grown to 151 member organizations in 53 countries.

Key takeaways

World Toilet Organization belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect World Toilet Organization to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of World Toilet Organization from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The World Toilet Organization (WTO) is a global non-profit organization whose goal is to improve toilet and sanitation conditions worldwide. It was founded in 2001 with 15 members and has now grown to 151 member organizations in 53 countries. The WTO is also the organizer of the World Toilet Summit, the Urgent Run and initiated the United Nations World Toilet Day.

History The World Toilet Organisation was founded by Jack Sim in Singapore on 19 November 2001.

Initiatives

World Toilet Day

World Toilet Day (WTD) was founded on 19 November 2001, and the inaugural World Toilet Summit (WTS) was held on the same day. Created by the WTO, World Toilet Day's supreme purpose is to draw attention to the ongoing global sanitation crisis. NGOs, the private sector, civil society organizations and the international community joined in to mark the global day. The United Nations also officially recognizes this day due to the need to raise awareness about the world's sanitation crisis.

Urgent Run The WTO commemorates WTD annually with the Urgent Run. The Urgent Run is a call for urgent action to end the sanitation crisis and aims to bring communities around the world together to raise awareness for the global sanitation challenge and engage people with sanitation issues in their local communities. For the past few years, in the lead-up to United Nations World Toilet Day, communities worldwide have come together to organize sanitation-themed Urgent Runs in varying formats and include fun runs, educational events, toilet cleaning programs, awareness walks, carnivals and even motorbike parades. They are organized by community groups, companies, universities, volunteers and NGOs to engage their local communities on their sanitation challenges.

Projects supported

Rainbow School Toilet Initiative WTO's Rainbow School Toilet Initiative was launched in 2015. In 2016 four rural schools, with an estimated 1,300 students (average 300 students per school) benefited from the new toilet buildings equipped with a recyclable wastewater treatment plant.

Floating Community Toilet Project Until 2018, no proper sanitation existed for the almost 100,000 people living in floating communities on Cambodia's Tonlé Sap Lake. To address sanitation issues in these floating communities, Wetlands Work! (WW) developed the HandyPod, a product that contains the raw sewage and treats it by harnessing various biological processes. This project aims to eliminate open defecation by providing sanitation systems to floating schools and teaching students to use toilets; improve sanitation and hygiene; reduce school absences due to diarrhea; increase school attendance, especially for girls, as well as drive demand for household toilets. The WTO and WW raised funds for the project through various platforms and in 2016 a total of eight HandyPods have been installed, befitting approximately 900 students and 650 indirect beneficiaries in their households.

World Toilet College The World Toilet College (WTC) started as a social enterprise in 2005 with the belief that there is a need for an independent world body to ensure best practices and standards in toilet design, cleanliness and sanitation technologies. While the lack of toilets is an endemic problem, poor management and hygienic maintenance are equally serious issues. A well-kept toilet will encourage proper usage and prevent deadly diseases. Since 2005, WTC has trained more than 5,000 people across its various courses and conducted programs and courses.

Logo The logo of the World Toilet Organization consists of a heart-shaped toilet seat which moves slightly up and down.

See also WASH (Water, Sanitation, Hygiene) Bindeshwar Pathak another pioneer of proper toilets in India founder of Sulabh International

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with World Toilet Organization

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what World Toilet Organization claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to World Toilet Organization before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about World Toilet Organization ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of World Toilet Organization

In research: World Toilet Organization appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses World Toilet Organization in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: World Toilet Organization is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2001 establishments in Singapore, Environmental organizations established in 2001, Non-profit organisations based in Singapore, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for World Toilet Organization outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study World Toilet Organization in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what World Toilet Organization means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain World Toilet Organization out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is World Toilet Organization in simple terms?

Why does World Toilet Organization matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study World Toilet Organization?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on World Toilet Organization.