The new social behaviour change campaign creates value for a functional household tap connection under the Government of India’s Jal Jeevan Mission
Mumbai, 09 October, 2023: In an effort to maximise the impact of the Government of India’s Jal Jeevan mission- which builds access to functional tap water connections in rural India, Tata Trusts through its Water Sanitation and Hygiene program, launched Samman Connection, a social behaviour change campaign designed to increase community adoption, ownership and participation.
While infrastructure and technology play crucial roles in improving water access in rural households, the success of any intervention ultimately depends on the behaviour of individuals and communities. Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) is a powerful tool that can drive sustainable change by influencing attitudes, perceptions, and practices related to developmental issues. Formative and ethnographic research undertaken across several states revealed that across social groups, societies overwhelmingly strive to maintain social respect or samman – comprising both individual and social standing. With a foundation of ‘saving time’ through reduced drudgery for women and ‘saving money’ through reduced medical expenditure, a rural family can progress and achieve ‘samman’, cascading this prosperity through entire villages and communities. With this key universal insight in mind, the ‘Samman Connection’ campaign was conceptualized to encourage adoption, appreciation, and celebration of tap water connections in rural households.
Through Samman Connection, a campaign to promote behavior change at three levels- individual, household, and societal, Tata Trusts are working to empower rural populations to take ownership of their “sehat” and “samay”, by making the most of tap water connection in their homes.
The campaign thereby aims to enhance the value of a tap water connection by addressing four major aspects of water in rural communities viz. the importance of access to safe water, the role of women in water management, the importance of community ownership and the benefits of paying for maintenance of the tap water connections. These messages, in their entirety, have been featured in an animation style musical: a film with powerful lyrics, music and soundtrack. This film is supplemented with 4 short films that aim to engage the viewer on issues and concerns that impede the uptake of tap water connections in rural India. These elements have been visualised through unique animations that appeal to the young and old alike, cutting across cultures and languages. Using music as a means to make the content memorable, the soundtrack was developed with the specific intent of making it catchy- thereby increasing the likelihood of the message staying with the communities. Furthermore, to ensure the translation of deep local nuances in both the research and creative output, an extensive network of on-ground teams was activated across states.
The campaign kicked off with the release of a short film showcasing how reliable supply of water to the home elevates the respect or ‘samman’ of the family members, particularly women, by improving the health of the family and putting an end to women’s drudgery and saving time, money, and effort leading to prosperity and therefore Samman. The main film, supplemented with 4 short films, posters, wall paintings and standees are available as open- source for those in the sector who wish to make their WaSH efforts more effective.
Mr. Divyang Waghela, Head, Water, Sanitation, & Hygiene, Tata Trusts, said “For more than a decade now, Tata Trusts has been on a mission to improve access to safe & assured water. Safe water has a direct impact on multiple aspects of a human’s life, most crucially, it enhances health outcomes for the family, especially for children - through the reduction in water-borne disease; the reduction of drudgery for women & girls and the improvement in livelihoods of rural communities who are dependent on farm-based incomes. Water remains key to progress and development and by socialising our strategic concept of ‘One Water, we hope to help protect and conserve this important natural resource. The Trusts have built partnerships with more than nine state governments to provide technical and implementation support for the Jal Jeevan Mission programme. To enhance community participation & ownership of JJM, the Trusts have designed and developed an SBCC campaign in partnership with government, civil society organisations, and other stakeholders”.
Speaking about the campaign, Ms. Deepshikha Surendran, Head of Brand and Marketing Communications, Tata Trusts, said, “Tata Trusts has been an early mover in using Social and behaviour change communication, especially in the area of water and sanitation, to build resilience and drive sustainable interventions. We are pleased to introduce ‘Samman Connection’, a multimedia, multi-lingual campaign based on the universal insight of ‘Respect or Samman’. Leading with a powerful song, multiple films using new methods of storytelling like personification of the ‘matka’, puppetry and conversational poetry have been developed which, we hope, will energize the communities and influencers to celebrate access to safe water through a tap connection. Samman Connection is a creative reflection of our extensive work in understanding and contextualizing the economic, political, and technological environment that defines the culture, behaviour, and social fabric of the society.”
Kalyan Challapali, Founder- Chief of Brand & Consumer Strategy, Wolfzhowl, said, “It was essential that we drive pride and ownership of the tap & its water by re-framing the value of it. When designing the research strategy and creative, WolfzHowl aimed to position the tap water in a way that it cuts across gender, familial, community and cultural barriers and drive ownership and hence enable women to lead better lives, girl children to be able to go to schools and families to be healthier and progress. That's why the strategic effort to make the tap & its water to be a matter of self-respect and pride and not just convenience”.
Through the Trusts’ WaSH programme, the Samman Connection campaign will reach 9 states in India, covering over 250,000 households across 28 districts.
To view the ‘Samman Connection’ films, click here.
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WaSHSince inception in 1892, Tata Trusts, India’s oldest philanthropic organisation, has played a pioneering role in bringing about an enduring difference in the lives of the communities it serves. Guided by the principles and the vision of proactive philanthropy of the Founder, Jamsetji Tata, the Trusts’ purpose is to catalyse development in the areas of health, nutrition, education, water, sanitation and hygiene, livelihood, digital transformation, migration and urban habitat, social justice and inclusion, environment and energy, skill development, sports, and arts and culture. The Trusts’ programmes, achieved through direct implementation, partnerships and grant making, are marked by innovations relevant to the country.