Tag Archives: India

DKT International – the purest marketing approach to behavior change?

Posted on 25 Mar 2013 | Leave a comment

DKT International is a social marketing nonprofit working in Asia, Latin America and Africa to improve access to reproductive health products and services. DKT adopts one of the “purest” market-based approaches to behavior change. It now boats the enviable record of around 75% of its revenue brought in from the sale of condoms, birth control pills and other products and services, including the highly successful Fiesta brand of condoms.

Founded in 1989 by Phil Harvey, DKT was named after Dharmendra Kumar Tyagi (1928–1969), who was an Assistant Commissioner for the Indian Family Planning program. An early pioneer and champion of family planning in India and elsewhere, he invented the well-known (in India and some other countries) “Red Triangle” symbol as a branding effort to familiarize and popularize the idea of family planning.

Many of the branding and mass communication techniques DKT developed are now used throughout the developing world to combat disease (such as HIV/AIDS) and poverty. His success in saturating the country with simple, attractive messages and designs (including the Red Triangle, which is now in use in several other countries) overcame age-old communication barriers and greatly increased public awareness of birth control. DKT’s staff consider its model to be the purest form of marketing and therefore most sustainable. Is this true? And if so, can it be applied to other behavior change efforts, especially those which don’t use products?

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Half the Sky Movement games to achieve social impact

Posted on 14 Mar 2013 | Leave a comment

According to Comminit.com, the Half the Sky Movement, a global initiative to address gender empowerment, has produced 3 hand-held mobile games for India and East Africa on topics such as maternal health, child health, and girls’ education and empowerment. For example, the “Family Choices” game aims to enhance the perception of a girl’s place in and value to her family, with an emphasis on keeping her and her peers in school.

The games build upon principles consistent with social learning theory, which asserts that people learn through observing others’ behaviours and attitudes. All three games use two common models to achieve social impact – adventure and simulation. Players are exposed to characters that can serve as role models and will be rewarded for positive actions, such as killing the worms inside their stomachs or seeking antenatal care. Players also face choices, such as making decisions that lead to a delay in marriage and betterment of the family. Games, both online and off, are increasingly being used to help deliver social marketing programs.

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Improving health and nutrition through Galli Galli Sim Sim, the Indian co-production of Sesame Street

Posted on 8 Mar 2013 | Leave a comment

The Sesame Workshop in India has launched a healthy habits campaign as part of Galli Galli Sim Sim (GGSS), the Indian co-production of Sesame Street. The GGSS Mobile Community Viewing (MCV) program trains local change agents to provide health information to slum neighbourhoods. They use a repurposed, GGSS-branded vegetable cart carrying a TV set and a DVD player showing segments on health and nutrition, followed by distribution of educational materials to children and caregivers. This slum roadshow also features activities such as mask-making and theatre. An evaluation of the program notes that exposure to the GGSS’s MCV is associated with increases in children’s knowledge of sources of milk (calcium), healthy foods, and steps of handwashing – as well as with caregivers’ knowledge of vegetables. This shows the importance of a mix of methods to reach the intended audience, based on how and where they seek health information.

Launched in 2006, Galli Galli Sim Sim (GGSS) is a broad-based, multimedia educational initiative for young Indian children modeled on Sesame Street, the US-based Sesame Workshop’s entertainment-education series for preschoolers. Created through a partnership between Sesame Workshop and Turner India, in creative collaboration with Miditech Pvt. Ltd., the television series aims to promote joyful learning of basic life skills – be they cognitive, social, emotional, or physical – for India’s children, and to raise awareness about the importance of early childhood development and education.

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Indian men skirt the issue of violence against women

Posted on 16 Feb 2013 | Leave a comment

India is experiencing an unprecedented national outcry on the issue of violence against women, following the brutal rape and bashing of a woman and her husband. To address this issue, a group of men have taken to the streets…wearing skirts. The stunt was conceived by two friends, Samarpita Samaddar and Adithya Mallya, after they heard a statement by Alwar BJP MLA Banwari Lal Singhal calling for a ban on girls wearing short skirts to school.

As Samarpita said on the Facebook event page: “Why does wearing a skirt make a difference? It’s a satirical take on the issue to draw attention to the absurd idea that what a woman wears invites sexual assault. Wear that skirt as a symbol of your support to a woman’s right to wear what she wants, be who she is, exercise her rights, and be safe in her city. Nothing shows more solidarity with women than breaking barriers and boundaries of “his” and hers”. The stunt was covered widely in both traditional and social media, both in India and internationally. Creative approaches to a social issue are especially important when there is intense competition for attention.

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India winning the fight against polio

Posted on 4 Nov 2012 | Leave a comment

The Diplomat reports that India has completed its first polio-free year in the country’s history. As the World Health Organization (WHO) notes, this marks significant progress for a country that in 1994 experienced 4,791 cases a year. The polio-free year means that India will no longer be considered a “polio-endemic” country, leaving its South Asian neighbors, Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well as Nigeria, as the remaining nations with this label.

As noted by Harvard professor, Jay Winsten, a persistent problem in the remaining country is one of attitudes and behaviors, with resistance from local and national political figures to polio vaccinations. Prof Winsten also regards as critical the funding shortfall of $945 million in 2012-13. This demonstrates that successful campaigns take into the relationship between the desired behavior change and the macro influences, including policy, political and social factors.

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Half the Sky videos a useful tool for social change

Posted on 16 Oct 2012 | Leave a comment

The USAID-funded, FHI 360-managed Communication for Change (C-Change) project has supported the development of 18 short educational and advocacy videos aimed at increasing global awareness and bringing about social change for critical health and gender equality and empowerment topics.

The videos were developed as part of the Half the Sky Movement, a multi-donor, multimedia initiative in collaboration with Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, authors of the best-selling book ‘Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide’. The centerpiece of the multimedia initiative is a four-hour PBS television series, which will be premiered on October 1st and 2nd.

The 18 Half the Sky Movement videos produced by Show of Force were filmed in India, Kenya, Somaliland, and Liberia for use by NGOs, governments and other groups that advocate for and work to bring about change on issues such as family planning/reproductive health, maternal and child health, girl’s education, sex trafficking, women’s economic empowerment, and domestic violence. The videos were filmed in partnership with a cadre of NGOs working in health and development, including CEDPA, Deworm the World, CARE, IRC, SEWA, Girl Child Network, Pathfinder, and others that will engage these products in their existing programming. Videos without English subtitles and in additional formats can be downloaded here.

Through C-Change, USAID has also supported the development of three mobile phone games on health and gender equity, developed by Show of Force partner, Games for Change, which will be launched in the early fall for use in East Africa and India.

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Clinton Global Initiative members make over 150 new Commitments to Action at 2012 Meeting

Posted on 27 Sep 2012 | Leave a comment

At the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), heads of state, CEOs, non-profit leaders, and other global luminaries made over 150 new commitments, valued at more than $2 billion and expected to impact nearly 22 million lives.

“I am convinced that cooperation, not conflict, will define this century,” said President Clinton. “I celebrate our members who have committed to working together to meet these challenges head on. Their creative and focused actions will help to bring about a stable, sustainable world in which all people have a chance to thrive.”

One example of a commitment made is “A Budding Interest: Organic Farming Commitment” by The PRASAD Project. The PRASAD Project committed to addressing issues of environmental degradation, economic disempowerment, illiteracy and food insecurity in the Tansa Valley of India by supporting local farmers and their families address these issues through the several programs, including organic farming, literacy, vocational, environmental education, social health, sanitation and solid waste management programs.

Established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, the CGI convenes global leaders to create and implement innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. CGI Annual Meetings have brought together more than 150 heads of state, 20 Nobel Prize laureates, and hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations and NGOs, major philanthropists, and members of the media. To date CGI members have made nearly 2,300 commitments, which have already improved the lives of more than 400 million people in more than 180 countries. When fully funded and implemented, these commitments will be valued at $73.1 billion.

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US announces new business partner for child survival in India – Pharmasynth Formulations

Posted on 1 Sep 2012 | Leave a comment

U.S. Ambassador to the the UN, Susan Rice, has announced that the U.S. has added an important new partner – Indian company Pharmasynth Formulations – to its Friends of Childhood Alliance, or “Sathi Bachpan Ke,” which works to expand the availability and use of life-saving products for children.

In June, the governments of the United States, India and Ethiopia, in collaboration with UNICEF, launched a new global Call to Action for Child Survival: A Promise Renewed. This initiative aims to eliminate preventable child deaths by the year 2035, so that all children born in India and elsewhere live to see their fifth birthdays and beyond.

Solutions for improving child survival in India and so many other countries are often relatively inexpensive and very straightforward: a bednet, an oral rehydration packet, a vaccine. Provision of these products is important, however success will be driven by effective marketing to ensure their use.

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ICRW: Mobile connectivity creates jobs and opportunities for women

Posted on 2 Apr 2012 | Leave a comment

Information and communications technologies (ICTs), such as mobile phones, computers and the Internet, are rapidly expanding the volume of information available to previously disconnected communities. These technologies are also expanding access to opportunities, including income through entrepreneurship. The right technology in the hands of a woman entrepreneur yields economic and social benefits for not just her, but her family, community and country. According to a study in India from the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), ICTs can catalyze women’s economic advancement by improving business practices, and breaking traditional gender barriers at home and in the marketplace. But the private sector in India is only just beginning to see women as consumers; it has not yet realized the potential women entrepreneurs hold as a vibrant business market.

To better understand how ICTs can support women, the ICRW research centered on how mobile phones, the Internet and computers can increase the ability to generate income. One of the key findings is that mobile phones, more so than computers or the Internet, allow women to build business success. Also, ICTs are most effective at helping women entrepreneurs save time and access new markets. Mobile phones allow women to eliminate travel, multitask and coordinate business with domestic responsibilities. According to the ICRW, future interventions should make women a core part of business strategies, design policies that incentivize public-private partnerships, and draw on the expertise and experience of local organizations that are already working to provide poor women with income-generating opportunities.

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Group education + campaign = better gender outcomes in Indian schools

Posted on 14 Mar 2012 | Leave a comment

New findings from a project in Mumbai, India show that small group education in schools brings greater positive changes around gender issues than just a campaign alone. The report shares evaluation results from the Gender Equity Movement in Schools (GEMS) program, which the International Center for Research on Women’s (ICRW) implemented from 2008-2011 in Goa, Kota, and Mumbai, India.

GEMS consisted of a week-long “campaign” and “group education activities” (GEA). The campaign was a week-long series of events designed in consultation with the students and involved games, competitions, debates and short plays. The GEA, conducted by trained facilitators, uses participatory methodologies such as role plays, games, debates and discussions to engage students in meaningful interactions on key issues.

Overall, students in GEA+ schools (group education + campaign) were more likely to have high gender equality scores, support a higher age at marriage (21+ years) and higher education for girls, and oppose partner violence. This report shows that while campaigns are essential to success, these must be combined with opportunities for young people to engage directly with new knowledge and behaviours.

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