Frequently
Asked Questions

Currently, 3.5 billion people lack access to safely managed sanitation, and around 2 billion people worldwide are without access to safely managed drinking water. This exposes them to the contamination of water supplies, and the risk of diarrhoea and other diseases. 1,000 children die every day from diseases related to poor sanitation, unhealthy hygiene or unsafe drinking water. By twinning your toilet, you are transforming lives by helping communities to get sustainable access to secure sanitation services and clean water, and practise healthy hygiene.

Every country featured in Toilet Twinning is an example of where the need is greatest globally – Tearfund work in 50 countries where poverty is extreme. We work with communities that are marginalised, and often remote, and where governments do not provide adequate water and sanitation.
We work in conflict-affected areas and regions impacted by disasters, as well as extremely poor communities with long-term development needs.

All money given to Toilet Twinning goes to a specific fund supporting Tearfund’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene work (WASH). Tearfund’s financial processes ensure that donations to Toilet Twinning are allocated to the correct fund and are then sent to approved partners and projects. 

Country Directors physically check that activities being reported on are consistent with the partner’s approved proposal.

On a quarterly basis, Tearfund’s in-country projects officer or coordinator will undertake field visits. The monitoring visit is undertaken in pairs i.e. a projects officer/coordinator goes with the finance officer to assess the physical evidence of the reported activities against the recorded expenditures. The aspect of value-for-money for each activity/asset is assessed as part of this audit.

Tearfund insists on field visits being conducted by both programme and finance staff so that they can talk to local people, local leaders, and other stakeholders in the implementation area, to ensure that the reports being sent in are not talking about other agencies’ project achievements/activities. If Tearfund’s country directors notice any management challenges, they arrange meetings with the Board of Directors of local partners – to raise any observed issues that require performance management.

By twinning your toilet, you are helping communities to get sustainable access to secure sanitation services, clean water and healthy hygiene behaviours. We work through a network of local partners and are committed to working in full participation with communities. Communities therefore have a high degree of ownership concerning the facilities they build.

We hope you understand that visiting a twinned toilet would therefore not be appropriate.

We do not support or promote a single, one-size-fits-all model across our sanitation programmes. Getting the local community actively involved is a key part of our demand-led approach. We help individuals and their communities work together to analyse their situation and identify which sanitation facilities they want or need. Using their local knowledge and skills, communities can identify the best low-cost and sustainable options.

Training community-based water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) groups and providing them with the necessary skills  to continue to oversee toilets, water points and healthy hygiene behaviours, is a key way to ensure our water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) projects are sustained.  Enabling communities to identify locally available and affordable toilet solutions is another way in which projects can be replicated across communities – so that the ripple effect ensures that transformation continues to unfold, and more and more people are able to benefit from clean water, hygienic toilets, and healthy hygiene practice

We ask our local partners to send us photos of toilets built as a result of their programmes, so that we can use these photos on our Toilet Twinning certificates. They email photos to us every few months, as water, sanitation and hygiene programmes develop.

Photos can be used several times depending on how quickly we are able to get updated pictures from our partners.

This means it’s possible that you would see your toilet twin in another toilet in the UK – but unlikely.

The idea of Toilet Twinning is that you display a picture of a latrine, with its location, in your toilet at home – to show that it’s twinned. Some months, we find that around 20% of our donations come from people who say they’ve seen a certificate in someone else’s loo. So, initially it may not seem beneficial to spend money on providing photos, but in the long run we have found that it generates a lot more support, and so we can invest in more water and sanitation projects long term.

Tearfund (the charity that Toilet Twinning is part of) has very lean operating costs and are committed to making sure your donation has the biggest possible impact for those in greatest need. Of every £1 you give, 75p is spent on life-changing projects, 12p is spent on support and running costs and another 13p is spent on fundraising.

If you have been charged twice, we will check our account and if there is more than one transaction in your name, we can refund the transaction(s) made in error.

Please note: We are not generally able to refund donations, as it is against charity law. PayPal will only allow us to process refunds up to 60 days after the original transaction.
Contact us for help: [email protected] or 020 3906 3906

If you need to change any of your details, please can you make sure you contact us within 24 hours of placing your order, and we will be able to help: [email protected], 020 3906 3906

We are currently not able to accept donations to Toilet Twinning using CAF vouchers or Stewardship accounts online, but please get in touch with us via email ([email protected]) or over the phone (020 3906 3906) if you’d like to donate using these methods.

The Gift Aid System allows Toilet Twinning to reclaim the tax on donations from UK taxpayers.

Toilet Twinning can claim 25% back on every donation/toilet twinned ie. that’s £15 added to every £60 toilet twin – at no cost to you.

You can make a Gift Aid declaration to Toilet Twinning if you are a UK taxpayer by completing the Gift Aid details when making payment on our website.

Toilet Twinning funds the work of international relief and development agency Tearfund. Your donation is used to provide clean water and basic sanitation services, and promote healthy hygiene behaviour.

Our programmes ensure that people have access to clean water, learn about the importance of building a latrine and maintaining it, and also learn about healthy hygiene behaviours such as hand-washing.

Healthy water, sanitation and hygiene behaviours work together to prevent the spread of disease. Children are healthier, and able to go to school; parents are well enough to work their land and grow enough food to feed their family. With better health, and more ability to earn a living, men and women discover the potential that lies within them to bring transformation.

When you twin your loo with a household latrine for £60 you will receive a print at home certificate (this makes an ideal present for someone!). The certificate features a photo of your twinned toilet, along with its location.

We will happily issue you with an invoice, please contact us by email at [email protected] with details of your organisation name, address and donation amount and we will send one out to you.

For our bank details – Please contact us by email at [email protected] or phone 020 3906 3906

We don’t currently offer a regular payment option for Toilet Twinning, however if you would like to give regularly to Tearfund’s work follow this link to donate.

The easiest way is here on the website where you can pay in a variety of ways. Just choose to twin today and follow the instructions. If you’d prefer to pay in a different way, you can email us at [email protected] or phone us on 020 3906 3906.

Yes! Simply choose at checkout whether you’d like us to send your certificate and frame to you directly via Royal Mail, or whether you’d prefer to receive the digital version only. Framed certificates will be delivered within 5-10 working days, and if you choose this option we’ll email you a copy too.

You can personalise your certificate with your name and/or the name of the person whose toilet is being twinned. We reserve the right to amend your text.