IDE Canada's Easy Latrine program creates wealth and contains disease

WINNIPEG, Oct. 18 /CNW/ - This week at IDE Canada's annual Fall Banquet, Winnipeg will welcome home two of our own - Cordell Jacks and Tamara Baker - and celebrate their ongoing success with IDE Cambodia.

Jacks and Baker co-manage IDE Cambodia's innovative Easy Latrine program. Together they lead IDE's social marketing efforts in Cambodia, and have been instrumental in developing and introducing affordable, simply designed latrines to villages in rural Cambodia - a part of the world where poor sanitation kills more people than HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis combined.

The Easy Latrine - the result of a collaboration between IDE and Jeff Chapin, a designer on sabbatical from leading design firm IDEO - costs only $25, is fabricated locally in the rural areas where it is needed, and can be installed in a single day. The design was recently honoured with a Best in Show award at the prestigious IDEA International Design Excellence Awards for its integration of product design, social strategy, and sustainability.

"We are excited to have Cordell Jacks and Tamara Baker speak at our upcoming banquet, and give Manitoba a chance to hear more about IDE's work in Cambodia," said Ron Enns, IDE Canada's Executive Director. "As an organization, we are dedicated to these types of projects that allow us to partner with local entrepreneurs and set up networks that produce and, distribute, our technologies locally."

Enns continued, "This model creates jobs and generates wealth in local economies, where it is so desperately needed. This is key to helping people escape poverty for good and central to our belief that the world's poorest people are producers of value, not objects of charity. We are truly helping to unleash the potential of the rural poor."

IDE Canada's Fall Banquet is happening on Friday, October 22 at the Fort Garry Hotel. Tickets are still available by calling 204.786.1490.

MEDIA ADVISORY: Cordell Jacks and Tamara Baker are available for media interviews during the week of October 18. Please contact Ron Enns at 786-1490 or [email protected] to arrange an interview or photo opp.

About IDE Canada

IDE Canada is a non-profit organization dedicated to lifting the world's poorest people out of poverty by harnessing the power of the market. With a focus on smallholder farmers in developing countries - those who own less than one hectare of land and earn less than $1 per day - IDE opens doors to market opportunities and connects them with the tools they need to grow a decent living. Since its founding in the early 1980s, IDE has used a combination of innovative design and business development to create income opportunities for millions of the world's poorest farmers.

For more information on IDE Canada, please visit www.ide-canada.org or go to www.ide-canada.org/donate.htm to make a donation.

For further information:

Ron Enns
Executive Director
IDE Canada
T 204.786.1490
[email protected]