12 Sep 2024 --- UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) and water and housing provider Lixil expand their partnership for another three years to reach more communities in Ethiopia with safe, clean toilets and hygiene solutions.

The humanitarian organization says a lack of access to safe sanitation and hygiene has a “devastating effect on children and their families around the world.”

“Our partnership with UNICEF is a cornerstone of Lixil’s commitment to improving global health through innovative sanitary and hygiene solutions,” says Jin Montesano, chair of Lixil’s Impact Strategy Committee.

“By renewing the partnership, we reaffirm our dedication to creating market-based strategies that provide safe and accessible sanitation and hygiene where they are needed most.”

Providing sanitation

The first project was in 2022 and ran for one year to increase the availability and affordability of “safe sanitation” in Ethiopia. UNICEF says over 800,000 people gained access to basic sanitation and hygiene — over 470,000 through sanitation subsidies and over 360,000 through market-based sanitation.

According to the organization, 1,000 children under the age of five die every day from diseases linked to unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene. Through the partnership, it aims to educate communities on the benefits of improved sanitation and allow them to invest more in improved toilets and sanitation services.

It says most sanitation improvements in lower-income countries result from people using their money to buy a toilet from a supplier. However, poorer communities face barriers to making such investments, including a lack of affordable products, an absence of skilled laborers to install toilets and family cash flow constraints.

The partnership aims to support government health workers in advising communities on safe sanitation practices, training masons to install toilets, facilitating microfinance loans, and increasing the supply of affordable hygiene and sanitation products. Six financing mechanisms or products were made available to consumers through the collaboration.

Personal Care Insights recently looked at how luxury skin care brand Clé de Peau Beauté and UNICEF surpassed half their three-year goal to empower 5.7 million girls in science, technology, engineering and math.

According to UNICEF, one in four girls aged 15–19 is not employed in education or training, compared to one in ten boys of the same age. The Skills4Girls initiatives are designed to help address this gender inequality.

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