The objective of this nationwide campaign against malnutrition is to address issues of status of women, the care of pregnant mothers and children under two, breastfeeding and the importance of balanced nutrition and health.
The Poshan project is the largest ever digital mass education programme in the fight against malnutrition. The project will be transformative in India's fight against malnutrition.
The Poshan project will use mobile phones to educate 23 million women by 2018 on better nutrition practices and the prevention of child malnutrition. It will focus on women between 13 and 35 years of age and their family members. This will directly impact the health of 60 million children in India born before 2025. The three year campaign will be transformative for India's fight against malnutrition, which continues to take away and blight the lives of millions each year.
The Poshan project is a public private partnership, supported by Vodafone and others. It is the world's largest video and mobile education programme for mothers.
The Phase I programme will educate women between the ages of 13 and 35 on simple practices to prevent child malnutrition. The Poshan series of videos are available in 12 languages and are produced by UNICEF and Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India. These videos shall be distributed via mobile and online media. This phase of the programme targets the entire country.
Through repetition of messages using drama vignettes of children with problems due to previous malnutrition - and the emphasis that the damage done by malnutrition in early life is largely permanent.
Distribution Approach
Mobile & Online distribution
Vodafone is the telecom supporter for this phase of the programme and shall conduct a direct marketing campaign aimed at its 170 million consumers with the target of educating 6 million women. Using a special promotion, an immediate cash incentive shall be paid to any Vodafone consumer who watches the four key Poshan videos.
Approximately 300 million direct marketing text messages will be sent every year to promote these videos; almost 1 million messages/day. The messages will be sent to all relevant consumers in the nationally available Vodafone network using automated local language voice calls, texts, and social media and in Vodafone retail stores for 3 years.
Health Workers & Offline distribution
AWWs, ASHAs and other frontline health workers trained and monitored by the government will go to villages carrying mobile phones with the videos on a microSD card. The microSD cards will be funded by the state governments either out of health ministry budgets or grants from multilateral institutions.
The 4 Poshan videos, in 12 languages, focus on better nutrition practices and the prevention of child malnutrition. They reinforce the following key messages:
