Collaboration
We are intensely working towards the realisation of our vision of an equitable and just society. Therefore, to scale up our ideas and approaches, collaboration is the driver that catalyse this process. In this endeavour, we have partnered with some organizations and institutions based on our programme outcomes. We have collaborated with JICA India, the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD), Department of Health and family welfare, Department of Social Welfare, Corporates – Maruti and Itochu Non – Government organizations, and research-based organizations.
Environment Friendly Actions through Storytelling
Nudging Individuals and Communities to Practice Environment Friendly Actions through Storytelling and Mid-Media Campaign complementing Mission LiFE.
The project Environment Friendly behaviour through 4R (Respect, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) complementing Mission LiFE under the CSR initiative by Itochu India. Pvt. Ltd. was executed in the states of Haryana and Maharashtra. The project addresses the issue of environmental degradation and resource wastage through Social Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) with school children and communities. The project’s objectives were to raise awareness among children and communities on the concept of 4R and promote mindful and judicious utilization of available resources for a sustainable and environment friendly future. Two broad SBCC activities were conducted to achieve the project objectives including Storytelling sessions with school children and a mid-media campaign in the form of Street Plays.
Storytelling sessions were conducted in two spells at 100 government schools in Mumbai and Gurugram with the school children primarily in the age group of 08-10 yrs.
In Spell 1 an introductory session of the project, a baseline assessment of the children’s knowledge level followed by Storytelling sessions with children on the concept of 4R. In Spell 2, after a gap of 10-15 days revision of Spell 1, Storytelling sessions with the support of teachers, role play by children followed by endline assessment was conducted. The sessions were engaging and effective in helping children understand the concept of 4R, encouraging them to adopt environment-friendly behaviours in their daily lives.
During Storytelling sessions, the character of “Mottainai Grandma” was used to impart knowledge about the conservation of environmental resources. Mottainai is a Japanese word to express a feeling of regret when something is wasted without deriving its full value. The children were shown animation videos of the Mottainai Grandma to extend their understanding of saving and protecting the environment. 1000 Mottainai Grandma books English- Hindi bilingual were provided to 100 schools which ensured that the message of environment conservation reached a wider audience. The project’s success was measured through baseline and endline assessments, which showed an increase in the children’s knowledge level after the sessions.
During the project period, it was inspiring to see that children were not just passive recipients of information but were actively involved in decision-making processes, sharing their narratives, and engaging in extracurricular activities through arts & crafts and plantation drives. Creating utility items out of household waste materials, such as dustbins, photo frames, utility boxes, flowerpots, etc., was a great way to teach children about recycling and reusing materials.
Plantation drives undertaken in schools were another excellent initiative that helped children understand the significance of trees and plants in our ecosystem. These initiatives were a great way to impart environmental consciousness to children from a young age and encourage them to adopt sustainable environmental practices. The children’s feedback about practicing individual environmental actions and promoting them at the community level is a testament to the effectiveness of these sessions. It is positive to see how storytelling was used as a powerful tool to instill important values in saving and protecting the environment. Another noteworthy contribution was made through the donation of 60 dual desk bench sets and stationery materials to all children in one of the project intervention schools which will go a long way in creating a conducive learning environment for children.
Social Behaviour Change Communication
Social Behaviour Change Communication with individuals, communities, and Institutions to protect and preserve the environment.
The resources and their consumption are very crucial not only for today’s generation but for the upcoming generations as well. This calls for judicious and mindful utilisation of resources and hence should be the primary goal for one and all resulting in environment friendly behaviour and action.
As mentioned in SDG Goal 12; Responsible Consumption and Production, Economic and social progress over the last century has been accompanied by environmental degradation that endangers the very systems on which our future development and survival depends. There are many aspects of consumption that with simple changes can have a big impact on society as a whole.
In order to work to raise awareness among people about the importance of resources and their utilisation, ETPA Foundation executed a Social Behavioural Change Communication (SBCC) Project on Environment using the concept of 4 R ( Respect, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) complementing Mission LiFE in two states Haryana and Gujarat with the support of Asahi Intecc Co Ltd, a Japanese corporation with a presence in more than 110 countries.
Realising this pertinent need of the hour, the Government of India is also focussing on behavioural changes to be inculcated amongst individuals and the community at large, to protect and preserve the environment. Mission LiFE is a significant step taken by our government for nudging individuals and collective action towards Lifestyle for Environment. It has been highlighted as well that every individual should consider Mindful and Deliberate Utilisation of Resources, instead of Mindless and Destructive Consumption of available resources and exhibit the same in our daily lifestyles for saving the environment.
The objective of the project was to create a sense of realisation towards the importance of resources and their mindful consumption to save the environment not only for now but for future generations as well. The SBCC approach has been implemented at two distinct levels; the Organisational level and the Community Level. At the organisational level, the government and private schools were approached to cater the children and reach out to a larger number of beneficiaries including teachers, children directly and their friends and families indirectly. At the community level, the street plays were scheduled with a script focussing on highlighting the prominent behaviour of today’s generation along with behavioural changes required to be adapted for a sustainable lifestyle.
Storytelling session was conducted in 30 schools amongst schoolchildren of class 3 – class 5 to attain an understanding of the importance of resources and take it further to their friends and families. Furthermore, the practical learning establishes the concept with better clarity and hence the extracurricular activities were also designed to be conducted in selected schools for creating crafts and utility products out of waste materials. The impact of storytelling sessions was assessed through Baseline and Endline Assessments. It was observed that there has been an increase in the knowledge and understanding of around 32 % of children belonging to government and primary schools of both Delhi and Gujarat. Around 3661 children attended the storytelling session from 30 schools and learnt about the possible behavioural change practices to be adopted in daily lifestyles.
Street Plays are one of the most interactive and creative platforms for the community to connect practically with the issues and scenarios at hand to cater for the community at the individual level. Street plays( Nukkad Natak) were conducted in community spaces like public parks, market areas, school premises and residential areas close to the nearby schools where storytelling session was conducted. The approach was to reinforce the key message and internalisation of the key concept of 4R to friends and relatives of the children who have been part of the session reaching 5633 beneficiaries in both states.
The highlights of the project were also published in the Digital Media reaching out to the maximum number of readers and propagating the milestones covered in the project. (CSR Initiative of Asahi Intecc in Delhi and Anand)
National Campaign on Promoting Good Habits
We have partnered with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) India successively for 2 years -2021 -22 & 2022-23 to implement the project and collaborated with different Ministries, public institutions, corporates, and NGOs to leverage their programme expertise, community relations in promoting hand hygiene and nail hygiene.
JICA India is the Japanese Government Agency for implementing development assistance in the world. It works in partnership with the Government of India (GoI) and supports to achieve the GoI’s objective through various JICA schemes. The project was rolled out across 36 states and Union Territories.
The project partnered with the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) division of the Ministry of Rural Development to disseminate the messages of hygiene and sanitation across 3000 plus model Gram Panchayats across the country. Under the SAGY framework, the development of Gram Panchayats is through the implementation of existing Government schemes and programmes in convergence mode and mobilisation of community and private resources. Apart from the Ministry also witnessed the project activity which was attended by the senior officials from the Ministry, State Government, and JICA.
The project was implemented in different geographies In Delhi it was implemented through the support Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) in 164 Government schools primarily to bring in attitudinal and practice-level change among children in terms of adopting hygiene practices including regular handwashing with soap and nail hygiene.
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) supported outreach activities in the public toilets of DMRC through the installation of posters on hand and nail hygiene. The support of Indian and Japanese entities with materials and products propelled us to reach the multifaceted needs of those we serve. Through the partnership of NGOs, we reached directly with the community including children. The project reached a target population of 12cr population through the collaboration of the above-mentioned key stakeholders.
The project focussed on an easy and practical approach to hygiene and sanitation issues by promoting correct steps of handwashing with soap and nail cleaning through a range of behavioural change activities. A range of interactive IEC materials and creations have been used in the campaign to reach out to the people and engage them.
Social Programmes for Children to address Climate Change and Environment Lifestyle
Storytelling sessions were used as a medium of communication to raise awareness among school-going children towards environmental issues.
The project was implemented with the collaboration of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) India and was executed by Kodansha Ltd Japan and was implemented in two phases over a span of 3 years in the states of Delhi, Haryana & Gujarat covering 105 schools and reaching directly to 3525 children. It also received support from Japan-affiliated companies namely Itochu and Maruti Suzuki.
The picture book of “Mottainai Grandma” was used which explains the act of handling things with care by spreading the spirit of Mottainai. A Japanese expression is used when people express regret when something that can still be used is not or is thrown away or wasted.
One of the innovations of the project was the colourful Caravan (Library on Wheels) which focussed to inculcate reading habits among school children and visiting those schools where storytelling sessions were conducted.
The project’s outcome was a plus experience for the children listening to the storytelling while learning about environmental issues.
They understood the concept of 4R- Respect, Reduce, Recycle, and Reuse and in some schools took the initiative to practice the Mottainai in schools.
The project was taken up as a successful project in the whitepaper published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Japan among the ODA projects across the world.
PDF file: ODA project whitepaper
Mottainai campaign film
Mottainai Grandma Campaign Swatch Bharat Abhiyaan
Implementing the 4R Principle in Model Villages of Jharkhand and Complementing Mission LiFE Lifestyle for environment
The project was implemented in collobration with the Ministry of Rural Development to complement the objectives of Mission LiFE – Lifestyle for Environment in the state of Jharkhand. Mission LiFE’s aim is to mobilise the citizens to take individual and collective action for protecting and preserving the environment in the period 2022-27. There are 75 individual LiFE actions across 7 categories identified under the mission.
ETPA Foundation introduced the concept and values of Mottainai Grandma in the model panchayats identified by honourable members of Jharkhand through storytelling sessions and other activities. The spirit of Mission LiFE is echoed by the concept of Mottainai which conveys a sense of regret over waste and encompasses the spirit of 4R – Respect, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. The storytelling session was conducted by the storyteller on the mindful utilisation of resources and encouraged children to promote the campaign through individual and collective actions. The session was attended by senior officials from the Ministry, the State Government of Jharkhand, elected representatives, and the ETPA Foundation.
Addressing Women's Empowerment Through Comic Books
We partnered with Kodansha Ltd the largest Japanese publisher company which has pursued the new, exciting role of media to educate people and society on gender issues. They carried out a feasibility study on the domain of women empowerment for spreading Japanese comics – Manga to gather their feedback to understand their opinion mainly related to women, their struggles, and challenges.
Contributing Factors for Overall Improvement of Farmers
IJK collaborated with the Large Research Organisation of Japan in 3 Indian states – Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and West Bengal to understand the daily and seasonal crops behaviour patterns, consumption attitudes, and business transactions. The backward and forward market linkages along with the services of agricultural machinery, materials, management support, and financial services.
Assessing the Human Well-being Index of Farmers Improvement of Farmers
IJK worked with Metrics Work Consultants Inc Japan a JICA Japan-funded survey project on the factors contributing to human well-being. These factors were to assess the several projects implemented by JICA like proper irrigation system, crop rotation, and proper road construction have contributed to the overall development of farmers in the 3 districts of Himachal Pradesh.