The Ananya Programme
The Ananya Programme, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and developed in collaboration with the Government of Bihar, aims to significantly reduce maternal and infant mortality in the Indian state of Bihar by Dec 2015
As an Ananya partner, BBC Media Action is committed to increasing demand for health services by increasing knowledge, and changing attitudes and behaviour related to maternal and child health in the state.
A population of 102 million, including 25.9 million women of child bearing age, makes the scale of this challenge immense. A paradigm shift in the way behaviour change communication is designed and implemented was required.
BBC Media Action
We at BBC Media Action believe that media and communication can be a powerful force for positive social change. Our aim is to inform, connect and empower people around the world.
Radio, TV, print, social media, mobile phones, street theatre and interpersonal communication can engage large numbers of people relatively cheaply, facilitating the exchange of information and ideas, dialogue, discussion and debate.
We use various forms of media and communication, to tackle poverty and contribute to long-term change in some of the world’s poorest places. Our work focuses mainly on governance and rights, health and resilience and humanitarian response.
In Bihar, we are working closely with the government and other partners (non-governmental organisations, media houses, mobile operators, broadcasters, tech companies) to ensure development efforts are linked up on the ground to bring lasting change.
Though we are legally, financially and operationally independent from the BBC, we build on the fundamental values of the BBC.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
The Shaping Demand and Practices project is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) as part of its Ananya programme in Bihar, India. Ananya seeks to create a supportive environment to reduce the vulnerability of women during pregnancy and motherhood.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation believes that every person deserves the chance to live a healthy, productive life. Guided by this core belief, the Foundation strives to improve dramatically the quality of life for individuals across the world – especially those with the fewest resources.
The Foundation seeks to address the great inequities in food, health and education. The problems are complex and demand the coordination and focus of many – leaders, governments, communities, and individuals from across the globe. In a bid to drive change on a global scale, it builds partnerships to bring together resources, expertise, and vision.
From the education of students in Chicago, to the health of a young mother and her children in Bihar—the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a catalyst of human promise in many parts of the world.
Partners
Banglanatak.com
Banglanatak.com is a social enterprise working at the grass roots level with a mission to foster pro-poor growth and safeguarde intangible cultural heritage. BBC Media Action is working with Banglanatak to deliver 10,000 street theater performances across Bihar.
The organisation uses a culture-based approach to development and community skill empowerment. Theatre is used to educate people on diverse social issues, mobilising community led action, life skill development and participatory research.
Grameen Foundation
The Grameen Foundation helps the world’s poorest, especially women, improve their lives and escape poverty by helping to provide access to appropriate financial services (such as small loans and savings accounts), new ways to generate income, and important information about their health, crops and finances.
Since 2001, Grameen Foundation has recognized the unique role mobile phones can play in the fight against global poverty. Starting with the business opportunities created by the Village Phone program, Grameen Foundation continues to develop innovative mobile phone-based solutions that address the critical needs of the most remote, most economically disenfranchised populations.
As part of the Ananya Programme, BBC Media Action has been working with the Grameen Foundation to expand and enhance the functionality of MOTECH, the Grameen Foundation’s open source mobile health platform.
GSMA Mobile for Development
BBC Media Action has partnered with GSMA Mobile for Development to enable scaled integration of mobile and ICT into health systems. GSMA Mobile for Development brings together the mobile industry and the development community to accelerate economic, social and environmental development through the use of mobile technology.
As part of its mHealth programme, the GSMA provides strategic, technical and operational guidance to the project and helps foster a productive relationship with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the Cellular Operators Association of India.
Connecting nearly 800 mobile operators in more than 220 countries to over 230 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem the GSMA represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications industry.
Madison
Madison World is a 25-year-old diversified communication group, with specialized functions in advertising, media, business analytics, out-of-home, PR, rural, retail, entertainment, mobile and sports.
As part of the Shaping Demand and Practices consortium, Madison World helps expand the reach of mass media through media planning and buying as well as rural marketing activities. Whilst a commercial organisation, Madison operates in a non-profit capacity for Shaping Demand and Practices.
OnMobile Global
OnMobile Global headquartered in Bangalore, India, with services in 59 countries and serving over a 100 customers worldwide is one of the largest white-labeled Data and Value Added Services (VAS) companies for mobile, landline and media service providers. OnMobile has a market reach of 1500 million unique users per month and calls handled per month are more than 10 billion.
OnMobile offers an innovative array of products and services in mobile entertainment, infotainment, governance, life impacting services and more across a range of channels including SMS, Voice, Video, WAP, Web, USSD and On-Device Portals thus creating high value and revenues for its customers. With over 1,650 employees worldwide, OnMobile has offices around the globe, including London, Paris, Madrid, Silicon Valley, Miami and Seattle.
OnMobile has partnered with BBC Media Action to develop and manage Mobile academy, Kunji and Kilkari services for access to mobile users across networks. At the heart of each of these initiatives is OnMobile’s objective of touching consumers’ lives with unique services and applications.
Pathfinder International
Since 1957, Pathfinder has maintained an unwavering belief in the right of women, men, and adolescents to have access to quality sexual and reproductive health care. As part of its Integrated Community and Health Systems Strengthening framework, Pathfinder fosters partnerships among government sectors (e.g., health, education, and youth), the private sector, and civil society to scale up programmes, foster project expansion and ensure sustainability.
As a partner in Shaping Demand and Practices, Pathfinder International supports the implementation of interpersonal communication training to community health workers in Bihar.