Project goals
Among the population groups that have not yet sufficiently benefited from the creation of basic hygienic infrastructure (e.g. toilets and washbasins) are members of the Tharu tribe in northern India, in the border region with Nepal. Girls and women in particular suffer disproportionately in these communities - as elsewhere in India. The lack of toilets forces them, out of shame, to defecate in the dark and in the open, often at some distance from the village at the edge of the forest. There they are sometimes exposed to unprotected sexual assault.
In our project area in the north of the state of Bihar, there are also wild elephants and other wild animals such as leopards, which pose a danger to people who defecate in the open at the edge of the forest at night. To reduce these unnecessary dangers for the people concerned, toilets and sanitation infrastructure can be built for the Tharu communities at relatively low cost.