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For the first time, GTO is publishing a scientific study on the condition of sanitary facilities at secondary schools in Berlin. The publication, which was produced in cooperation with the Institute for Hygiene and Public Health at the University of Bonn, analyses the structural and functional condition of sanitary facilities as well as their use and acceptance from the perspective of pupils. It provides recommendations for action for schools and politically responsible stakeholders.

As part of the Toiletised World development education programme, two explanatory films have been produced for the first time for teaching in secondary schools. Published on the GTO YouTube channel, the films focus on global climate change and the importance of sanitation for people and nature.

GTO is contributing the expertise it has built up over the months in conducting online training programmes to the implementation of a training-of-online-trainers course. Experts from 14 countries who have already attended specialist training courses organised by GTO and the German WASH network will receive intensive one-week coaching on digital methods and tools for training adult learners. The aim is to transfer the knowledge gained from previous events even more effectively to the partner countries.

On World Toilet Day, GTO's first student congress will take place in Berlin with 256 students and 19 educators. There will be numerous presentations, workshops and discussions on the key topic of ‘Toilets and Education’.

Together with other members of the German WASH network, GTO is campaigning for the issue during the coalition negotiations and formulating key political demands for the new government. For the first time in history, the new government is committed to expanding WASH and strengthening global health. Human rights and gender equality are also at the centre of the new feminist foreign and development policy.

GTO is leading a further education academy to run its ‘WASH in Emergencies’ course as a certified training programme. The course is therefore equally accessible to professionals and students and offers the greatest possible benefit for everyday working life or career planning.

As part of the Toiletised World development education programme, GTO is training teachers and multipliers for the first time. The programme teaches educational methods for passing on knowledge about the global context of the sanitation and hygiene crisis.

Around 30 members took part in the first digital meeting of GTO-members. Due to the positive feedback from the participants, the association's board is in favour of always holding the meeting in hybrid form in future.

In order to maintain the development of knowledge and exchange of experience between specialists during the pandemic, GTO is offering technically complex online courses for the first time. GTO is setting up a streaming studio in its offices for this purpose. Between October and December 2020, GTO trained specialists for over 300 hours in 7 different online training courses.

Together with the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW), GTO is developing the online event format ‘WASH Essentials - Latrine Construction in Emergencies’. Over a period of several weeks, participants receive a technical and context-specific overview of sanitation solutions in emergency and transitional aid in online formats lasting several hours. They then apply the knowledge they have acquired in a subsequent construction phase.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the GTO is developing a series of easy-to-understand, internationally applicable teaching materials for children to help them internalise the AHA hygiene rules. Based on the principle of learning through play, the ‘My Healthy Friends’ kit triggers a change in behaviour and thus improves hygiene practices in schools in the long term. The materials are being used for the first time in schools in South Sudan.

Two volunteers are organising a regulars' table for regular discussions about GTO projects and WASH-related topics. Former interns and friends of the GTO meet once a quarter virtually or in person at the so-called WASH Tisch (WASH table).

In May 2020, the Bundestag debated and adopted the motion ‘Ensuring sustainable water and sanitation for all’. The GTO had previously commented on this with other experts from the WASH network. Among other things, the German Bundestag calls on the German government to promote the sanitation sector in multilateral processes and bilateral development cooperation programmes and to help break the taboo on the topic. This is intended to accelerate progress on Sustainable Development Goal 6 ‘Clean water and sanitation for all’ of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In cooperation with the Institute for Hygiene and Public Health of the University of Bonn and the Federal Parents' Council, GTO has published a discussion paper with concrete recommendations for immediate measures in school toilets to ensure sanitary hygiene and protection against infection during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In December, GTO made a lot of noise for WASH in the Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development. Thilo Panzerbieter criticised the current policy of the German government on behalf of German civil society in a 7-minute speech and then answered questions together with the Parliamentary State Secretary of the BMZ, Dr. Flachsbarth. He emphasized that currently only about 13% of the Federal Government funds invested in the area of WASH benefit poor or marginalized population groups and that this is unacceptable.

The materials for playful sanitary and hygiene promotion for children were fundamentally revised and expanded. A ready-to-use "My School Loo Kit" enables immediate application in schools, communities and beyond. The materials are suitable for both emergency aid and development contexts. Due to their language-independent and largely culture-independent design, they are universally applicable and can be easily combined with existing educational or awareness-raising measures.

"I'm sick of it!" With this provocative statement, the GTO, together with its patrons Frank Heinrich (MdB) and Ottmar von Holtz (MdB) invited members of the German Bundestag to a parliamentary breakfast in February. The challenges of German school policy and the global school toilet crisis were focused. 30 participants, among them eight members of parliament and six members offices employees from five parliamentary groups, discussed together with pupils, parents' representatives as well as representatives from municipalities, organisations, science and private industry. The common consensus was that an active breaking of taboos is needed to achieve a change in awareness at all levels. Furthermore, it was agreed that the topic of WASH should be taken up in relevant committees of the Bundestag.

Benefiting from the experience gained with the Germany-wide competition "Toiletten machen Schule", the GTO helped to carry out a similar competition concept abroad together with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). The focus is on Uganda and Pakistan, which are also pilot countries of the GIZ's "Sanitation for Millions" programme. Among other things, the GTO was involved in a feasibility study. As from autumn 2018, school toilet competitions were held in both countries.

The GTO uses various platforms at the international level to promote the interlocking of WASH with other development issues. Since January 2017, the GTO is an official member of Sanitation and Water for All (SWA), a partnership of over 100 governments, representatives of civil society and other development partners. GTO Executive Director Thilo Panzerbieter has been Northern Civil Society (CSO) Representative on the SWA Steering Committee since 2012.

In a project sponsored by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the GTO is cooperating with the government of another country for the first time in its project history. As part of the German-Jordan Water Portfolio, GIZ, together with the Jordanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation and the Jordanian Ministry of Education, is supporting public schools in communities that receive refugees to improve their water and hygiene management. The GTO helps to improve the knowledge management of the WASH+ project and the exchange of experience between Jordanian and German schools.

Transparency is a major concern of the GTO, which is why the association joined the “Initiative Transparente Zivilgesellschaft” (Transparent Civil Society Initiative, ITZ) in September 2016. The aim of the ITZ is to create the broadest possible action alliance within civil society that agrees on the essential parameters for effective transparency. The signatories of the initiative commit themselves to make ten precisely named, relevant information about their organisation available to the general public.

Since the GTO was founded in 2005, the number of supporters of the GTO has grown steadily. In September 2016, the association welcomed its 100th GTO member.

With the course "WASH Essentials: Latrine Construction in Emergencies", the GTO for the first time offered a tailor-made training event for a federal organisation. The course gives an overview of the technical and non-technical challenges, potentials and intervention possibilities in the field of sanitation in humanitarian emergency and transitional aid. It is part of the programme of the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW).

At the United Nations Summit in New York in September 2015, the 2030 Agenda with its 17 goals and 169 subgoals for sustainable development was adopted. Drinking water and sanitation were included in SDG 6 "Clean Water and Sanitation". The GTO has fought for this success through various networks (Sustainable Sanitation Alliance, Sanitation and Water for All, End Water Poverty). Since then, the GTO has addressed SDG6 and its significance in various campaigns, publications and projects.

After its foundation, the German WASH Network attracted attention with numerous actions and events, among others in cooperation with the Federal Foreign Office at the World Water Week in Stockholm. Shortly afterwards, the Federal Foreign Office decided to make water, sanitation and hygiene a priority area of its humanitarian aid. On the initiative of the GTO as secretariat, the network developed a WASH strategy in 2014 together with the Federal Foreign Office and other important stakeholders such as the Federal Agency for Technical Relief. This strengthened Germany's position and the work of all organisations working in the WASH sector.

Since its foundation, the German Toilet Organization has encouraged the UN to officially designate November 19 as World Toilet Day. This happened in 2013. Since then, the GTO has deliberately not celebrated this theme day with large campaigns in order to achieve more public impact on all other days of the year.

On World Toilet Day on 19 November 2010, the GTO announced for the first time the Germany-wide competition "Toiletten machen Schule". Educational institutions from all over Germany were invited to submit concepts for maintaining and improving their own school toilets. A total of more than 80 primary and secondary schools from 13 federal states submitted entries. The competition also served to promote a dialogue on the subject in public.

The establishment of the German WASH Network was a milestone in the cooperation of German aid organisations working in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector (WASH sector) of development cooperation. 18 organisations, including the GTO, decided to intensify and professionalise cooperation in the WASH sector and make an effective contribution to the implementation of the human right to water and basic sanitation. Today, the network has 23 members with projects in 100 different countries. The GTO acts as a secretariat.

Time and again, toilet enthusiasts who want to support the GTO and its vision volunteer. There is a network of GTO-volunteers since 2011. Back then, several people came together in the GTO office to talk about the possible organisation and implementation of events and practical work. To date, many volunteers have been helping the GTO team, among other things at festivals and in activities with school children. Many thanks to all volunteers!

In Germany, the GTO has been conducting regular training courses for experts in the field of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) since October 2010. At that time, the organisation developed the training programme together with GTZ-ecosan. Therefore the first seminar of this kind took place at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (now GIZ) in Eschborn. Since then, around 600 representatives of other organisations, but also staff of state institutions and people involved in development policy attended the training courses.

In July 2010, the UN General Assembly, the highest body of the United Nations, explicitly recognised the right to water and sanitation in a resolution. In the following years, attention to the issue of sanitation increased significantly in development cooperation at national and international level. The GTO benefited from this development in its project work. In December 2015, the United Nations finally adopted another resolution in which, in addition to the right to water, the right to sanitation was mentioned as an independent human right for the first time - a milestone on the road to greater justice.

With "Toiletised World", the GTO has developed a school program, focusing on development, where students of all ages can explore international development cooperation on the basis of sanitation. The students are dealing with the sanitary crisis in many regions in the world, as well as with the impact of this crisis on various aspects of life, such as education, health and environment. They do this by looking at their own toilets at school during a toilet walk, a four-senses inspection of the sanitary rooms inspired by the founder of Project CLEAN, Dr. Tom Keating.

The concept for which the former team of students led by GTO Executive Director Thilo Panzerbieter received the Mondialogo Engineering Award in 2004 was successfully implemented in Zambia in 2009. In the Pestalozzi Children's Village in Lusaka, a reactor was built that produced the renewable energy source biogas for the school kitchen, through the fermentation of wastewater together with organic waste. The knowledge that the GTO acquired in cooperation with local partners could be applied by the organisation in subsequent projects and passed on to third parties.

The GTO campaign "Sanitation is Dignity" was the official campaign of the "International Year of Sanitation" of the United Nations in 2008. Part of the campaign was the exhibition "Where would you hide?“ The striking orange figures, which at the time drew attention to the fact that two thirds of the world population had no access to sanitation, were shown in over 80 cities around the world.

GTO Executive Director Thilo Panzerbieter presented the successful GTO campaign "Sanitation is Dignity" to the United Nations in New York at the end of 2007. A few months earlier, the General Assembly had proclaimed 2008 the "International Year of Sanitation". Part of the international council that at that time advised the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to do so was the former Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Uschi Eid.

With its campaign "Sanitation is Dignity", the German Toilet Organization broke the public toilet taboo in Germany immediately after its foundation with publicity. At the beginning of March 2006, GTO Managing Director Thilo Panzerbieter opened the campaign-exhibition at Potsdamer Platz together with the founder of the World Toilet Organization Jack Sim and Uschi Eid, former Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. More than 80 media - from Financial Times Deutschland to Urologie Heute - reported about the campaign supported by CWS-boco and showed that the niche topic "Loo" needs more attention.

14 people from very different professional backgrounds came together on 31 October 2005 to establish the German Toilet Organization e. V. The association’s first members were engineers, social scientists, communication designers or humanists. They all shared the same vision, namely to break the toilet taboo by progressive educational work and to strengthen a strongly neglected topic. Their motivation was to improve health care and protect the environment.

The idea to establish the German Toilet Organization (GTO) arose in 2005 as the result of various developments. Three soon-to-be founding members of the GTO won the Mondialogo Engineering Award. Together with the University of Zambia, they developed a concept for sustainable sanitation at schools in the poor districts of Lusaka, Zambia. At the same time, the idea was born to launch the campaign "Sanitation is Dignity" in Germany in make the public aware of the important topic of sanitation. The foundation of the GTO made it possible to use funds from sponsors for the campaign.