19 November is observed globally as World Toilet Day by members of the World Toilet Organisation as it happens to be the organisation's founding day. The World Toilet Organisation or the WTO, which originally began with 15 members now consists of 153 member organisations in 53 countries working towards eliminating toilet taboo and delivering sustainable sanitation.

Representational picture

How the WTO came to be
Jack Sim, who established the World Toilet Organisation in 2001, wanted to break the taboo of toilet and sanitation and legitimize it for mainstream culture. He also founded the Restroom Association of Singapore (RAS) in 1998.

World Toilet College
In 2005, WTO started the world's first World Toilet College (WTC) to provide training in toilet design, maintenance, School Sanitation and Disaster Sanitation and implementation of Sustainable Sanitation systems. WTO was also one of the founding members of the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA), a coalition of 50 organizations to promote sustainable sanitation systems. In addition to advocacy, capacity building and sanitation projects, WTO is now driving a market-based strategy to address the dysfunctional sanitation market for the poor, by installing efficient market infrastructure.