Diarrhea kills over half a million under-5 children every year – more than malaria, tuberculosis and HIV combined. Diarrhea deprives many millions of children of the nutrients they need to reach their full physical and mental potential.
FAMILIES WITH A
SANITARY TOILET
HAS RISEN TO OVER
I did this to prove to women that we can take care of ourselves… We can do anything we want
In 2018, Adam Adamu Azumpagaama became the first woman to own and operate a toilet business selling through Sama Sama – the sanitation brand iDE has established in northern Ghana.
With your support, iDE has trained over 100 toilet entrepreneurs like her, teaching and coaching production and business skills.
Adamu gets satisfaction from providing an essential service in her community, building a business and being a role model for her daughter, Rida – after whom she named her business.
“I hope by watching me that she will be empowered, satisfied and confident in herself,” Adamu says.
With your support, iDE has developed a sanitation marketing approach that is proving far more effective than traditional public health campaigns. Working with local toilet businesses, we have been able to make buying a toilet easy, affordable, and even fun – with aspirational marketing campaigns that appeal to the real reasons people want a toilet.
We have seen the impact in Cambodia, where the proportion of rural families with a sanitary toilet has risen from 28% in 2011 to 80% in 2021.
Thanks to your support for sanitation marketing, we recently celebrated a milestone for health and dignity.
Being a woman in a male-dominated industry is not easy, but she is inspiring other women to become toilet entrepreneurs as well, transforming sanitation in northern Ghana.
Supporting entrepreneurs to sell over a million toilets and dramatically improving people’s access to basic sanitation is something to celebrate, but you can help us take the next steps to bring better health and dignity to all.
Your donation to iDE powers entrepreneurs to:
Join the sanitation revolution! Support iDE’s Global Water and Sanitation (WASH) Initiative.