Japanese firm, UNICEF partner to boost sanitation and hygiene

Toilet constructed through the support of UNICEF at Iftin Sub County Hospital, Garissa county. [File, Standard]

Japanese construction conglomerate, LIXIL Corporation, and UNICEF, have announced the extension of a partnership on water and sanitation hygiene until 2027, that is aimed at ensuring safe, clean toilets and hygiene solutions in six countries.

Over the past five years, the collaboration has resulted in a scale up in the availability and affordability of safe sanitation in Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania, with 12.7 million people gaining access to the basic services.

In a statement, UNICEF Director of Private Fundraising and Partnerships, Carla Mardini, said that the initiative will not only improve sanitation but benefit communities with improved toilets services.

“A lack of access to safe sanitation and hygiene has a devastating effect on children and their families around the world. Every day, 1,000 children under the age of five die from diseases linked to unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene,” said Mardini.

Mardini announced that LIXIL and UNICEF are working to reach 3.5 billion people who have no access to proper sanitation globally

The UNICEF official said that most sanitation improvements in lower-income countries are as a result of people using their own money to buy toilets of their choice from suppliers.

However, poorer communities face barriers while making such investments, including lack of affordable products, an absence of skilled labourers to install the toilets, and family cash flow constraints.

“The partnership between UNICEF and LIXIL has tackled these barriers through a variety of activities in each of the supported countries. These include supporting government health workers to advise communities on safe sanitation practices, training masons to install toilets, facilitating microfinance loans, and increasing the supply of affordable hygiene and sanitation products, including through SATO, LIXIL’s social business,” she said.

Some of the partnership achievements are market-based approaches which have catalysed investment from the public and private sectors to communities, including 2.2 million U.S. Dollars in government investment in sanitation and hygiene improvements, and nearly 4.9 U.S. million Dollars in loans from banks and microfinance institutions.

“Our partnership with UNICEF is a cornerstone of LIXIL’s commitment to improving global health through innovative sanitary and hygiene solutions," said Jin Montesano, Chair of LIXIL’s Impact Strategy Committee.

Montesano said that they are firmly dedicated to creating market-based strategies that provide safe and accessible sanitation and hygiene where they are needed most.

“Basic sanitation is the use of improved facilities which are not shared with other households and where excreta are not safely managed. If the excreta from improved sanitation facilities are not safely managed, then people using those facilities are classed as having a basic sanitation service,” stated Montesano.