The untapped power of sanitation

HQ Location: India

As Joe Madiath is fond of reminding people, “shit” is not a glamorous issue. At the same time, the organization he founded in 1979 has had a marked impact in delivering and scaling a holistic village development model that uses entry point concerns over clean water and sanitation as a tool to unite and empower communities. Requiring 100 percent ‘buy-in’ as a precondition for commencing new projects, Gram Vikas’ participatory and sustainable ‘MANTRA’ approach has achieved impressive results – eliminating 85 percent of water-borne diseases in participating villages, and boosting school attendance from ten to 90 percent. From its origins in remote rural India, the model has been replicated in Tanzania and Gambia.

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