Cllr Susan Phillips, Mayor of Bournemouth, proudly received Toilet Twinned status on behalf of the town at the club’s February meeting.
Soroptimist International of Bournemouth began to raise funds for the Toilet Twinning charity to celebrate the club’s 80th anniversary in 2018. Since then, they have twinned more than 90 toilets in eleven countries across Africa and Asia, and have encouraged many others to twin too. Bournemouth town now joins an elite group of 35 other UK towns and cities to receive the award.
Teaming up with Toilet Twinning to mark the anniversary was an obvious project because a common approach is shared to eradicate poverty and all Soroptimist International’s work is linked to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and both share a mission to work at a local, national and international level to educate, empower and create opportunities for women and girls.
Toilet Twinning CEO Lorraine Kingsley said, ‘Toilets are literally lifesavers in the remote and very poor places where we work because, without them, families fall sick often. Women and girls have even more to gain because toilets protect them from attack and help keep girls in education.