This e-zine documents stories from the non-glamorous world of global development and aid

From the Indian Railways' new vacuum flush bio toilets to the success story of grassroots movements in reviving cyclone-hit Myanmar, Broken Toilets (www.brokentoilets.org) covers it all in its effort to focus attention on developing communities and the issues they face across the world.

"Broken Toilets is a metaphor for the business of global development and aid where well-intentioned decisions for a community are taken by someone outside of the community – often by the entity funding the solution. As a result, the product, programme etc. isn't effective or sustainable. The story repeats itself in many forms – menstrual hygiene programs that end as soon as the NGOs run out of supplies and leave town or schools given a generous donation of computers but only have electricity for an hour a day. Money and efforts are wasted," says Samyuktha Varma, co-founder of the non-profit monthly ezine.

Their venture engages a network of journalists, researchers and practitioners across the globe for independent and objective accounts of the development sector and its larger concerns, involving environment, inequality, social justice, health, sanitation and human rights. "…it provides a frank opening to discuss what is working and not working to stop these toilets, literal and metaphorical, from breaking," says Varma.

While Varma, with a masters in gender and social policy, was the research and communications persons for NGOs in the water and sanitation sector, co-founder Emily Madsen, with a masters in public health, has done research in child psychology and worked on a range of women and health issues, including HIV prevention and water and sanitation. They met while working on faecal sludge-related projects. Mutual interest in the subjects and a "dearth of independent reporting on such issues", prompted them to start the e-zine.

Both Varma and Madsen feel that the media thrives on sensation and a toilet-building project in rural Bihar, for instance, won't grab attention. Work that does tend to get out is thanks to savvy communications teams for foundations who have funded the particular project; such information is therefore not the most objective representation. "Real and practical examples of reaching impact goals often sound dull and mired by jargon.

Practitioners know it takes a long time and a lot of work to make real, positive impact. Yet, the reports and stories that come out in mainstream media do not necessarily capture such realities and complexities," says Varma.

Already out with issues 'Sludge' and 'Recovery', in the piping is an issue on 'communities involved in using open data for development' and their stories of success, ongoing efforts or failures in different countries.

Choosing not to comment on the government's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA), Varma clarifies, "Our focus is on developing communities, not countries. No country is perfect and there are important stories to tell about how such communities are fixing, coping and living."

And last week, Broken Toilets kickstarted a fundraiser to remunerate contributors and continue ensuring generation of free content.