Our Vision

Health, dignity and well-being to all through sustainable sanitation.

Our Mission

Improving sanitation conditions for people globally through powerful advocacy, inventive technology, education and building marketplace opportunities locally.

History

The World Toilet Organization was founded in 2001 as an international platform for toilet associations, government, academic institutions, foundations, UN agencies and corporate stakeholders to exchange knowledge and leverage media and corporate support in an effort to influence governments to promote clean sanitation and public health policies.

The WTO declared its founding day on November 19, 2001 as World Toilet Day, which is celebrated annually worldwide and is geared toward raising awareness on the state of toilets and sanitation.

The World Toilet Summit (WTS), organized annually by WTO, has been hosted in Singapore, Bangkok, Moscow, Philadelphia, Beijing, Belfast, Hainan, New Delhi, Macau, Seoul, Shanghai, Taipei, and Durban. WTS 2013 will be held in Solo, Indonesia.

World Toilet College was started in 2005, which is a joint venture with Singapore Polytechnic and provides high quality training in topics related to toilet design, maintenance, and sanitation. 

SaniShop, a social enterprise franchise model which began in 2008, trains the poor how to produce and sell small affordable sanitation systems below $40 per family with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, Lien Foundation, Unilever and the Singapore Economic Development Board. 

Why Sanitation?

In September 2000, world leaders came together at United Nations in New York to adopt the United Nations Millennium Declaration, committing to reduce extreme poverty and setting out a series of targets - with a deadline of 2015 - that have become known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). 

Though sanitation was not mentioned as one of the eight MDGs, it is an area that affects most every goal. In order to strive towards achieving the MDGs, it is crucial to plug the sanitation gap.