10 Sanitation Initiatives

These sanitation initiatives attempt to make health promotion through waste management a sexy issue. It's tough to do, especially in the international development field where cellphones are the "it" innovation. Swapnil Chaturvedi, the founder of San+Co, a start-up social enterprise working in rural India, told Change Observer in June of 2011 that he hoped toilets would take the place of cellphones for a sexy issue.

From health-focused hygiene products and inclusive economic development programs to fair trade wine and sustainable rural systems, sanitation initiatives span a variety of industries and some, like the aforementioned wine, start from the product base and then use the profits in order to support programs. They are all a testament to the need for localized strategies rather than a one size fits all model.