This year has been pretty shitty-and that’s a good thing!

One of our key campaign focuses in 2014 has been increasing access to water and sanitation worldwide. Global Citizens have taken over 53,000 actions calling on world leaders to pass legislation that will help end open defecation and improve international assistance around water and sanitation. Here is what we’ve done together:

The UN Talks Shit

In the Spring, we supported the Deputy Secretary-General as he launched his campaign around ending open defecation. This was the first time I’ve ever heard the word ‘shit’ used in the United Nations!

Thank You Festival

In June, we threw the Thank You Festival in Columbia, Maryland. The only thing cooler than Tiësto’s set was this awesome inflatable toilet that helped raise awareness about the importance of increasing access to water and sanitation.

Water for the World

Justine Lucas, Global Poverty Project US Country Director and Judith Rowland, US Campaigns Associate

Throughout the year, we handed over the Water for the World Act petition to key leaders in the US Government. In July, we collected over 14,000 emails from Global Citizens calling on the leadership of the House of Representatives to pass the Water for the World Act

A Congressman goes to India

In August, our team traveled to India with Congressman Schock. We learned more about the World Bank’s sanitation programs and met with the Prime Minister of India.

A Summit

Then in September, we hosted the Global Citizen Festival: The Action Summit, which was an interactive symposium on the challenges to ending extreme poverty by 2030. Global Citizen Ambassadors Tamzin Merchant and Raya spoke about the importance of toilets.

Congress lines up for Water for the World

US political leaders stepped forward in a video message showing their support and the momentum around Water for the World Act. Key leaders like Congressman Royce, who serves as Chairman of House Foreign Relations Committee, announced his support for Water for the World Act for the first time!

A Truly Awesome Photo

And, our friend Congressman Blumenauer took this awesome photo with the toilet trophy. When the photo looks like that, you can say its more than just a photo-it is a man committed.

Leaders Step Forward

Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, attended the Global Citizen Festival and pledged to increase access to toilets in India. Representatives from the World Bank also pledged $15 billion to support sanitation projects in India. Those are some impressive pledges.

A Day For Toilets

On November 19, we celebrated World Toilet Day. Events at comedy clubs across Canada and the United States brought humor to this very serious issue.

Informative Toilet Paper

We created The Toilet Paper, which highlighted progress made around ending open defecation globally, educated readers about the sanitation issues facing the world, and called on global change. Not bad for some toilet paper. Take a read of the Paper yourself.

A Campaign for Shit

The Singaporean Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations attended our World Toilet Day cocktail event in New York and helped us launch a new campaign: #GiveAShit. Later, we participated in an event at the United Nations that highlighted the progress made around sanitation.

Australia Acts

The Australian Senate passed a motion to support diplomatic efforts to ensure that the proposed Sustainable Development Goals contains a separate goal on water and sanitation. This included a commitment to increase access to water and sanitation and to end open defecation. Well done Australia, that’s acting Fair Dinkum.

Global Citizens, I’m so glad that you #GiveAShit, and so is the world. Thanks so much for raising your voice to increase access to water and sanitation.

----

Judith Rowland