How the Bihar health sector adopted a strategic Social Brand campaign - Part 1

 I stopped by a small tea shop in Muzaffarpur and nearby is an Anganwadi centre       with   wall paintings of government  schemes for maternal and child health displaying the logo of “Swasthya Bihar, Samridhha Bihar.” Be it in the heart of bustling golambar  chowk of Patna, the rusty lanes of Motihari; a Primary health centre at the far end of  Raxaul or a small village curled up in a corner of Supaul, everywhere Health services,  health policies are seen with a ubiquitous tag line “Swasthya Bihar, Samridhha Bihar”  along with a colorful logo.

 It’s interesting to observe that the state of Bihar which was once considered under the “BIMARU” states and was creeping on the path of development especially the health  sector developed a  powerful social brand worth enough to be emulated by others.

 Here goes the story in the words of the communication team  of State RMNCH+A Unit, Bihar which was instrumental in  getting  the wheels of social branding started with the  support of State  Health Society, Bihar

 “With multiple push from the development partners the  health  service delivery was improving in Bihar. And we  could see the  thirst for high visibility for the improved    service delivery in the  GoB", said Dr Hemant Shah,Director,  SRU

 “We knew what the TSU (technical Support Unit) had to do. We    knew if we need to stay in the state and do our work to bring  change and strengthen the systems, we had to help the government  to give shape to their aspiration. We visualized it in the form of a  Social campaign brand.... and as we work in the field of health – I  thought, let that one social campaign brand be the ‘Health  Initiatives campaign’ in Bihar to start with.” Said Victor Kalyan  Ghoshe ( Senior Advisor, Communication, SRU), he continued,  “and we figured it was all about ‘a new Bihar- which was  developing’, But as mentioned the core of our idea was different –  we still believed through a hidden layer below the Brand promise   if we could shape demands of the communities of Bihar; we would  actually be able to create a dynamics to ‘drive the market’ and  maintain the ‘service delivery’ in a way that will help the future  prosperity of Bihar to sustain (lower Maternal Mortality Ratio  & Infant Mortality Rate, higher rate of Routine Immunization,  effective Family Planning etc.). In a word we wanted to create a  social dynamics through a strategic brand campaign – where  the service delivery is community demand driven.

 We went back to the GOB with a series of Brand campaign names.   The list had:

1.         Swasthya Bihar, Pragatishil Bihar

2.         Swasthya Bihar, Unnatishil Bihar

3.         Swasthya Bihar, Samriddh Bihar

 Slogans which almost had the same meaning – but there was only  one which phonetically had the right zing as it was coined with a  key word with two syllable phrase, viz-a-viz the others which had  four syllables. We knew the third campaign name option was  destined to be the winner.

 We were right – but we didn’t know that within a few days this    idea will be all over Bihar....making its mark on all the leading  news papers, on all the stationeries of concerned government  agency (State Health Society, Bihar), Radio and television. And within a couple of months-the state government would start using  the brand for departments other than the department of Health as  well.

 After a few rounds of Chai and Charcha, the name was finalised and the work for identity (Logo) development took over.

  The most twisted turn in story comes here

  As we worked on developing the brand we started believing this identity should create an added value for not only the GOB, but also for each and every decision making bureaucrat in the  government so that the instruments of the government own it and  eventually turn it into a sustainable campaign brand without any  external support.

 The road map with milestones that we had developed  initially for  this brand development journey, after reaching at the Ideation milestone we decided not to get into the Prototype development  and testing – we should let the State Health Society-IEC division do the job.Which was a milestone decision and which never had  happened in India with any development project (as we have seen -a logo design for a project or a program, is always the first thing  that development partners do for a development program as a  practice).

 SHSB IEC cell finally developed the Swasthya Bihar, Samriddh  Bihar identity with no help from the State RMNCH+A Unit or  from any of the development partners. They added a map of Bihar  along with the mentioned family of four – the end beneficiary – to  develop a face to the first strategic Social Brand campaign from  the GoB.

 This brand eventually became so strong within six months of its  first dissemination that the Govt revamped and reprinted all its  stationary including the SHSB letterheads, envelops and Cover files (which is the highest visibility document in the Indian  Bureaucracy

 The story does not end here, after this successful example of an  interactive social brand development in health sector, many sub- brands were developed following a larger strategy for the GOB and that part of the story too is very interesting….

 To be continued…

I MUST CONFESS.....................

    I must confess

    Why do i pick up a pen

    and write verses out of nowhere

    I write stories out of experiences

    When the friend list keeps on piling

    and relationships are at a downhill

    when leaders mock limits

    while a debt ends a life

    I must confess

    i pick up my pen to write

    When Aylan is washed up to the shore

    And a girl puts her "Hands up"

    When guns snatch away an innocence

    and a "Gul Makai" is born

    I must confess

    i pick up my pen to write

    when textbooks remain open

    spilled with blood

    and bread is snatched away

    again in the name of blood

    i must confess

    i pick up my pen to write

    for writing is deleting for me.....................SEHAR

The post was written under the #BlogBuddyWordsmith program by @blogchatter for the weekly writing prompt “I must confess” 

GROW TREES………..For a better tomorrow

Deforestation is clearing Earth's forests on a massive scale, often resulting in damage to the quality of the land. Deforestation has many negative effects on the environment. The most dramatic impact is a loss of habitat for millions of species. Seventy percent of Earth’s land animals and plants live in forests, and many cannot survive the deforestation that destroys their homes.

Deforestation also drives climate change. Forest soils are moist, but without protection from sun-blocking tree cover they quickly dry out. Trees also help perpetuate the water cycle by returning water vapor back into the atmosphere. Without trees to fill these roles, many former forest lands can quickly become barren deserts.

Removing trees deprives the forest of portions of its canopy, which blocks the sun’s rays during the day and holds in heat at night. This disruption leads to more extreme temperatures swings that can be harmful to plants and animals.

Trees also play a critical role in absorbing the greenhouse gases that fuel global warming. Fewer forests means larger amounts of greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere—and increased speed and severity of global warming.

The task of environmental protection is a universal responsibility of all of us. Al little but significant contribution to the cause is by planting new trees.

Vodafone India, one of India’s leading telecom service providers and Grow-Trees.com, the exclusive Indian Planting Partner for United Nation’s Environment Program’s Billion Tree Campaign, have taken up extensive tree plantation drive for a greener India. Phase 1 and2 of their joint project is already completed to improve the wildlife corridor between Kanha - Pench wildlife reserves by planting 200,000 trees on 200 hectares of forest land. Launched in August 2014, this project will by next year have a total of 300,000 trees planted over 300 hectares of forest land between Kanha Tiger Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh and Pench in Maharashtra.

The successful completion of Phase 1 and 2 was formally announced by Manish Kumar, Business Head – Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh, Vodafone India and Mr. Bikrant Tiwary, CEO,Grow-Trees.com, at a special press meet organised in Jabalpur. 

With this initiative, Vodafone is working towards increasing green cover, support the conservation of flora and fauna and facilitate habitat connectivity in tiger breeding areas. In addition, we will also create livelihood opportunities for local communities, enable reforestation  and offset carbon footprint every year for 3-years.”

This project will create about 25,000 workdays of direct jobs mainly for women and tribals inhabiting the area in addition to supporting several allied livelihood generating activities such as farming, fruit and honey gathering etc. on a sustained basis. The site is in Sijhora Range and would be jointly protected by three villages- Majhipur, Jogisoda and Chandiya. A variety of trees, including Karani, Harra, Baheda, Bamboo, Khamer, Ladiya, Mango and Amla, that are local to the region will be planted. Saplings of these were grown in the special nurseries funded by Grow-Trees.com. 

PLANTING TREES HAS BENEFITS FOR YOU TOO.YOU WILL BE:
* Investing in a sustainable future – profits are no longer the only bottom line for companies. Investing in the future of our planet is an integral part of the triple bottom line for businesses
* Investing in a better future for South Africa – education is key in SA’s ongoing development. Investing in schools and making them more conducive to learning is an investment in the country’s future

* Leaving a lasting legacy

* Its so cool and fun to plant trees together.

So #PledgeATree with Vodafone and http://www.grow-trees.com/ .  You get an e-certificate for reducing carbon footprint and can celebrate any life occasion with Grow Trees ………….how cool is that!!

Watch this video to have a glimpse of the #PledgeATree

GIRLY PROBLEM.........I MEAN REALLY!!!

Recently twitter saw an ugly spat between actrtess Ameesha Patel and actor Kushal tondon . recalling what happened would not be pleasant, but still for the sake of readers, let's run through what happened. The duo had separately gone to watch a movie in a theater hall in Juhu when Tandon found that Ameesha was not standing up for the national anthem and was fiddling with her phone.

Tandon approached her (not figuring who she was in the dark) and asked her to respect the national anthem. The rest is history with Ameesha getting back with abusive statements on Twitter, calling him 'asshole' and 'jackass' and explaining her 'girly problem at that time of the month'

ameesha patel 

I waited for the film to start so I cud address my GirLY problem in the bathroom. Didn't know that kushal wud make it a national issue

4:04 PM - 26 Oct 2015

ameesha patel 

Men like him who have forced a woman 2 speak about her intimate girly problems are jerks .. He is a shame to society

4:07 PM - 26 Oct 2015

Diyar Ameesha patel

A gold medalist in economics, a known actress , a person who can do those raunchy, double meaning item songs and yet you have to call the “Menstruation” a “Girly Problem”.

Let me tell you a little history. the first commercial sanitary towel, introduced in 1896 by Johnson & Johnson, failed to sell, not because there wasn’t demand for the product but because advertising for sanitary products was thought improper and so no one even knew they existed.

Various campaigns are going on, advocacy is at its peak in the world to call a period  simply a period not some girly problem, red friend, that time of the month, an aunt visiting . Do you even realize that this naming is bercause of shaming.   Shame of accepting that you are menstruating. 

Hey Ameesha, why don’t you bring out a biology book and read about it. And by educated , elite women like you failing to call it by its name you are pushing back the whole movement of breaking taboos around periods.

It’s ironic that so much embarrassment, awkwardness, and shame surround a natural bodily function experienced by half the population at some point in their lives.

The negative consequences of ‘the menstrual taboo’ are felt not just by individuals but by communities and economies as a whole. Over half of girls in East Africa miss important schooling during menstruation because they can’t access pads or the information they need about their own bodies and a recent study in Bangladesh found that 73 per cent of female factory workers were missing 6 days of work a month during menstruation.

And yes its not the problem of our culture to be specific. When you call it “Girly Problem” , you add the embarrassment to the long list of cultural-specific “sequestration rituals, around menstruating women. In Italy, women aren’t meant to make pasta sauce if they’re at that time of the month. In Nepal, women have to sleep in a cattle shed overnight and they aren’t allowed to cook when they’re on their period, so for four days a month the man will take over the cooking. “Until very recently in the UK people believed that dough wouldn’t rise if a woman tried to make bread while menstruating.

Breaking the taboo around menstruation is much more than speaking out. Its biological, its normal and it is associated with Menstrual hygiene it is an opportunity for the global community to say to disadvantaged girls and young women, ‘You Matter. Period.

So next time do not use the world “Girly Problem”……..Period.

With Love

A Girl Herself

TEN HEART WRENCHING IMAGES THAT WILL PUT US TO SHAME.........AYLAN IS NOT ALONE

I can’t stop thinking about Aylan Kurdi and the collective horror his cold image of being washed ashore generates .We as a human being fail when we see such tragic picture of a 3 year old boy washed away .But he is not alone ,neither our outrage on facebook  and twitter helping. Thousands are making the journey from Turkey to Greece’s easternmost islands each day. The majority are Syrians fleeing the war in their homeland. Others are from Afghanistan or Iraq. So far this year, the number of them crossing the Mediterranean has exceeded 300,000, with 200,000 landing in Greece, the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR said.

Aylan is not alone in this plight The number of people uprooted from their homes by war and persecution in 2014 was larger than in any year The rapidly escalating figures reflect a world of renewed conflict, with wars in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe driving families and individuals from their homes in desperate flights for safety. But the systems for managing those flows are breaking down, with countries and aid agencies unable to handle the strain as an average of nearly 45,000 people a day join the ranks of those either on the move or stranded far from home.

Let me take you through heart wrenching images of refugee crisis  and why we need to correct this ,why we need to ensure these millions of refugees a simple right – Right to Live 

1) A happy Aylan Kurdi before he...........

        (Source-AFP/Getty Images)

2) Displaced children from Congo (Source- congomissionnewswire)

3) A child from Ethiopia ( Source- Rajonews.com)

4) Who can forget this image  of a scared child by Nadia abu shaban

5) Plight of rohingya, Myanmar by Saiful huq omi

6) A Lebanese child (Source- Daily star lebanon)

7) Syrian crisis in pictures

Credits- acelebrationofwomen.org , rescue.org, dailystar

8) Jerusalem (Source- Jerusalem post, kisa.org.cry)

We are sorry Aylan , we failed you and we will continue failing million of children because a millitary might is more important than a lost childhood

Keep Smiling there above......Believe me you are at a better place.

One Unforgettable trip..................GO GOA!!!!!!

This blog post is about a journey, a holiday taken after months of hard work ,an escape from the thing called competition, performance ,results   etc etc So we boarded Goa Express (Mind it if you are not in a group or with a romantic partner when days seem into minutes, don’t try this train 38 hours of journey can take your nerves out).

30 of us went to Goa and all credit goes to Ankit sir for handling not some little kids but grown up adults who every passing minute wanted to do something different from the group Amid Aantakshari, dumbshall act, mimicry our journey proceeded disturbing our fellow travelers when cards start world comes to a halt and non players (yeah it was me) look as the most foolish ones .The train journey was a roller coaster one with swords drawn out on the movie names ,enmity feeling which can beat India Pakistan , the ever so pathetic train ka khana ,some facebookites updating every single second and cherry on the cake was ghost stories until midnight.

Goa gives you a liberating experience ,a kind of break free attitude that strikes you the point you deboard the train as we reached ,I was enlightened that “What happens in goa ,stays in goa”(does it remind you of some other place?? Forget it…………J ).

We stayed at South Goa’s Palolem beach and if you are looking for a serene, quiet place, beaches that remind you of a distant island ,a romantic sojourn then South Goa is what you are looking for. The day had already ended when we reached so we just sat on the beach talking, dreaming There is something about beaches that make you dream, dream not of materialistic gains but something deep ,something spiritual.

 Next day was planned a trip to North goa and inspite of waking up the earliest we were late (we means the three girls-Nova, Prema and me) Finally on being threatened that we would be left behind we rushed secret is we always were late because………ha ha ha u actually believed I will split out beans of our girls talks, no way

The bus proceeded to Basilica of Bom Jesus church amid lungi dance and fevicol types item songs and here was Gaurav Agrawal,he never sat on a seat for a minute ,always dancing its people like them who never let the dancing mood die down The church is marvellous, visit it not for the story of a miracle called St Francis and his 400 year old body but for beautiful gothic architecture ,don’t rush, absorb the intricacies of architecture ,its lovely Agauda fort was next stop ,initially used as a water tank the age old walls face sea and I could find some guides telling tourists about the movies being shot there ,we can never come out of bollywood the continuity ,the walls with small windows make Agauda Fort so splendid as if it challenges Sea, questions its mightiness and still stands tall.

Yippee. North Goa and  its water sports ,the fun part actually began I was very terrified about the banana ride and the prospect of being thrown into the mid sea and these friends of mine assured that they will save me if I drown The person   standing at the edge of banana was holding my life jacket and I thought he was such a saint to support me suddenly I saw God in him Mid sea he held my jacket and threw me into sea and took the steamer with the rest of the people along I was like WTF !This demon actually left me here, well life jackets were there and Sid and Vishal screaming that keep cycling and yes inspite of that demon ,I was alive we went deep into sea later for an hour and I know I was a headache by being a non swimmer and always ending up coughing salt water after every wave, my friends never thought of leaving me and made sure someone or the other was always around to hold if I lost balance…..Love you doston for that

The main adventure was not water sports but finding out that we were left behind as we were late after changing and the bus headed to cruise as the tickets were pre booked (We here again refers to the three of us) we called ,bus waited midway and when we reached we could feel whispering and angry eyes penetrating us and then again friends made us feel that”Ho jata hai” nothing to worry ,making us laugh which we did not until we said sorry to sir. While everyone assured us that  nothing to be sad ,sir made it real being the sweetest person .

The late night talks were all full of planning for the next day, a group wanted to explore casinos, we wanted to go to Disco ,someone wanted to have a lone time at the beach and the day dawns ,we all took a boat ride to honeymoon island ,At the middle of the sea was carnatic music with Akshara Damle and when we returned a big wave splashed over all the plans made a night before ,after discussions, road safety ,distance issues, girls safety each and every plan was headed towards a no (he he) and evening was spent in biking ,trying local cuisine, buying cashews and Mallikarjun Temple (Krishna – mere ghar waale bolenge tu Mathura se Goa mandir dekhne gaya hai………;-)  and here came the shocker of the day-Silent disco now I really want to know who came up with this idea ,Dance is a community feeling, to celebrate joy, togetherness ,happiness or just to enjoy ,Keeping headphones on and dancing is something I could not understand and so did others When we perform classical ,it’s said that you have to make the audience believe that he/she is actually Radha and is longing for love and then this silent disco-something very individualistic, very isolated  and very silent.

Well Goa trip came to an end and I was at the beach at 6 in the morning for I knew I will miss the beach ,the splashing sound of waves the most when I reach back to hustle of Delhi and sitting there clicking pictures of couples who were trying after every failed attempt of self clicking, I observed something that I would carry with myself back” A Russian Father and his 2 year old son at the beach, waves come,the boy falls and he puts his hand towards father but the father does not hold, the child walks on hands and legs ,again the wave comes and he fells The father stands there just saying get up and finally the child stands on two feet ,again to be splashed by a wave and again trying ,Father never ever holding his hand and only boosting verbally “……………….so on the southern most end of Goa at sunrise ,I got life’s little lesson-lesson of parenting. 

Back to the train ,everyone was tired, exhausted, sleeping, exchanging numbers and in the process of one or the other person getting down in between at their home towns,almost everyone got down ,hugged, waved goodbye  ,promised to stay in touch ,This made me believe that we may have missed visiting a casino or a beach but we did not miss making new friends

This is for everyone there making it one of the most unforgettable experience:

"I couldn't find the right words
Nothing seemed to rhyme
To write something for you all
I think it will take time

Because when you have friends
That are very hard to find
There's so much to say
Because you make everything alright

So I will tell you right now
exactly what I need to say
To show you how much I appreciate
You all being there everyday

You're worth more than anyone
even a million pounds
Because you always know what to say
When I am feeling down

You made me smile big smiles
And my days so very bright
And when I was sad

we talked the whole night

I sometimes wish I could explain
How much you all mean to me
But its just not possible
To list a billion things

So I just wanted to say
I love you so so much
And I hope you never leave me
promise to stay in touch........