#sanhack: World Bank and Partners hold 1st Sanitation Hackathon in the Philippines

The World Bank in partnership with Google Developers Group, Google Developers Group, Google Business Group, Globe Labs, Globe Telecom and Blog Watch holds the First Sanitation Hackathon (SanHack) on December 1 and December 2 to help find innovative solutions to address sanitation problems.


Sanitation is a human right

While over 1 billion people have no facilities at all and are forced to engage in hazardous and demeaning practice of open defecation, the UN General Assembly recognized sanitation and water as a human right essential to the realization of all human rights.

In 2010, Resolution 64/292 calls upon States and international organizations to provide financial resources, help capacity-building and technology transfer to help countries, in particular developing countries to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all.

According to Catarina de Albuquerque, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to safe drinking water and sanitation, “ensuring access to sanitation for all, which is safe, affordable, acceptable and sufficient, requires multiple intervention from different stakeholders, leadership, an enabling environment, and an engaged population willing and able to claim their rights”. With this, it provided a major argument to all sanitation advocates and became an important step towards turning these rights into a reality.

Sanitation is also considered a good economic investment. A dollar invested yields five dollars in return. There is a growing evidence showcasing socio-economic returns such as improving school attendance, decreasing healthcare costs and improving human productivity, and other benefits related to dignity and safety due to improved health.



The objective of the sanitation hackathon is “raise awareness of sanitation challenges in developing countries and create a network of software professionals & atypical partners to find innovative solutions using ICT”

On twitter, Blog Watch discussed the access to sanitation facilities and possible solutions. Here are some of the curated tweets.

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