I just spent the most amazing 40 minutes with Lalita Sachdeva – head of communications of UNICEF (India)
Lalita was kind enough to walk into our office and we had a high quality discussion about what UNICEF does in India how they could work with Games2win and the circle of friends and associates 2win and I have.
Some highlights:
– Unicef promoted and pioneered the use of Handpumps in India!
Handpumps pump water directly from the natural reservoir of the earth and hence prevent ‘open water’ sources like Wells from spreading diseases.
What was heartening to hear was the this effort of Water Pumps ERADICATED the Guinea Worm disease in India!
– Polio and its quiet death was a discussion that gave me goosebumps.
Lalita shared that in 2009, there were 600 recorded cases of Polio in India; in 2010 the number had crashed to just 60 and the real good news of 2011 is that there are just 2-3 cases reported so far.
I was intrigued on WHY parents would NOT give their kids polio drops and Lalita dropped a bombshell – she shared that there were so many old fashioned social norms in the country that were so retrograde – example – some Muslims believing that Polio drops could cause impotence :-((
– I bought up the topic of Tampons and how I know from P&G that so many Indian mothers DO NOT ALLOW their daughters to use Tampons – Lalita countered by saying that Menstrual hygiene itself in India was very bad and that mothers didn’t even encourage their daughters to use Sanitary Napkins – resulting in large scale problems in girls as they matured.
– In states like Rajasthan where girls are married very young, what I liked about the UNICEF effort was not to change that social custom – but to influence the Parents to POSTPONE THE GAUNA – or the ceremony to SEND the daughters to the Man’s house LATER – thereby helping in the healthy evolution of the Girl Child.
– As a brand, I never came across someone who used the demographic – 9 (minus 9) to 18 (meaning from inception to adulthood) to describe their target audience (UNICEF works for the benefit of kids)
– Lalita made an excellent point that its RICH INDIAN FAMILIES who can afford to get a SEX TEST done – so its the RICH as are the poor who KILL GIRLD CHILDS.
– UNICEF promotes breast feeding for 6 months as the exclusive nutrition by the mother so that the child doesn’t get infected from the bad water.
– UNICEF has 400 people in India – BUT the population of CHILDREN IN INDIA is 400 MILLION!
– The most interesting part of the discussion was the SIMILARITY of GAMING and the DONOR program of UNICEF!
- UNICEF wants long term donors who sign up for monthly donations rather than one time donors ( similar to game companies who love subscriptions rather than one time impulsive buys)
- UNICEF has its own life time value calculation of donors and drop off rates etc…
– There was a compelling case that Lalita made on the ROI of the donation that the donors make. Lalita explained to me that with a certain amount amassed, UNICEF can then RUN pilots to solve a problem – for example curing Anemia in Girls
Once a PILOT project is executed – it then becomes the REASON for lots of grants and funding to come in and the program becomes large scale!! The Indian Government, the Prime Ministers office etc take notice – but that happens ONLY WHEN a PILOT gets successfully concluded.
To me, there is so much similarity of being an entrepreneur and trying to solve massive business issues, changing mindsets (like the polio and impotence example), showing proof of concept for funding and in the end making a SUSTAINABLE and scalable business happen – just like UNICEF has done.
Finally, I was so excited in the end and have promised to GAMIFY donations using some of our MOM and KIDS games so that there is awareness and hence donations and financial contributions to UNICEF!
Stay tuned on what games2win and UNICEF will do for the kids of india!!
Lalita is contactable on –
lalitasachdeva@gmail.com
