Giving Compass' Take:

• Global Citizen reports on the efforts of its partner, Vodacom, in mobilizing money to make sure schools in South Africa have safe, clean bathroom facilities, rather than the dangerous pit toilets.

• How does this highlight the importance of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) across the globe? What steps can we take to expand more effective WASH initiatives?

• Here's how WASH action can help end malnutrition.

According to the school infrastructure regulations that were set in 2013, all schools in South Africa should have had adequate sanitation by 29 November, 2016. The regulation also outlaws pit and bucket toilets. However, this is not really the case.

Passmark, a data journalism platform, reports that at least 4,500 out of 25,000 schools in the country have pit toilets.

Other than stripping children of their right to learn in environments that protect their dignity, pit toilets have proved to be fatal. In March 2018, a 5-year-old girl, Lumka Mkhethwa, drowned in a pit toilet in the Bizana in the Eastern Cape, where 1 in 4 public schools only has pit toilets. This comes four years after 5-year-old Michael Komane’s tragic drowning in a pit toilet in Limpopo province ...

Vodacom’s principle is to work in partnership with government and other civic bodies to transform societies to effect social change by investing in the Sustainable Development Goals. In order to ensure that the South African government receives the funding it needs to deliver on its promise for safe toilets in schools, Vodacom, through its collaboration with Global Citizen, is calling on corporates to mobilize resources for the initiative.

Read the full article about trying to make pit toilets history by 2030 by Lerato Mogoatlhe at Global Citizen.