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NEWS - April 2010
The World’s Longest Toilet Queue Event in Yemen

In response to a call made by Yemen Times and GTZ, 806 persons lined up in Al Sabeen Park on 22 March 2010 to make a stand for water and sanitation.

The world’s politicians will meet in the world’s first High-Level Meeting on Sanitation and Water in Washington DC on 22 April 2010. This is arguably the biggest political opportunity in years for real worldwide action on sanitation and water.
The meeting is being held as part of the Global Framework for Action on Sanitation and Water – an international platform recently established to turn political commitments into action.

The call for The World’s Longest Toilet Queue was made to lobby people from all around the world to push those attending the meeting to commit to action that could save millions of lives.

In Sana’a, a team of volunteers placed 500 posters and distributed 800 flyers around the capital city. MTN and Nasspress sent SMS to its subscribers in the capital city inviting them to the event. Yemen Times advertised for the event in two of its issues before the designated date, as well as coordinated the publication of this event in two main papers Al-Siyasia and Al-Thawara as well in some media websites such as Mareb Press. GTZ/Yemen-German Water Program advertised this event in its website.

On the day, 806 signatories were collected from persons who lined up for the event motivated by the distribution T-Shirts and caps on which the logos of Yemen Times, GTZ and Longest Toilet Queue were printed. The highlight of the vent was a draw for four mobile phones. While standing in the line, people got introduced to water and sanitation facts and concepts. They were also encouraged to seek more information through asking the volunteers and the organizers.

Two MPs and at least five senior government officers from the Ministry of Water, Ministry of Labor, Local Administration and the Women National Committee attended the event.

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