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Tag: Sheetal Mehta

  • Nanhi Kali launches campaign combining education and sports for girls

    Nanhi Kali launches campaign combining education and sports for girls

    Mumbai: The K.C. Mahindra Education Trust has announced the re-defined intervention from Project Nanhi Kali with an innovative campaign that integrates football into the curriculum for underprivileged schoolgirls across India. This campaign, created by Ogilvy, underscores the trust’s commitment to holistic education, blending academic learning with essential life skills acquired through sports.

    KC Mahindra Education Trust started Project Nanhi Kali to encourage and support underprivileged girls to complete 10 years of schooling. In alignment with the National Education Policy which advocates integration of sports as part of the curriculum Project Nanhi Kali is introducing girls to the game of football.

    Project Nanhi Kali’s campaign film captures the transformative power of football on young girls, highlighting real-life stories of schoolgirls from across India who are part of this program. These girls are not just learning to play football; they are gaining confidence, leadership skills, and a sense of self-worth that transcends the football field. The film is a testament to how sports can be a powerful vehicle for change, teaching values such as teamwork, perseverance, and resilience.

    Project Nanhi Kali has transformed the lives of more than 700,000 girls across India.

    Commenting on the new film, K.C. Mahindra Education Trust trustee and executive director Sheetal Mehta said, “At Project Nanhi Kali, we empower underprivileged girls through a transformative blend of education including 21st-century skills and sports leadership training. This holistic approach provides the girls with the essential tools to succeed in life. Our ‘Lessons from a Football’ film vividly showcases how football teaches crucial values like teamwork, leadership, and perseverance. By incorporating sports into our program, we see Nanhi Kalis evolving into strong, confident leaders who are ready to take on the world.”

    Mahindra Group chief customer and brand officer Asha Kharga also added, “Nanhi Kali represents Mahindra’s philosophy of Rise in action. We approached the new campaign with the mindset of an innovation launch. In alignment with the National Education Policy, Nanhi Kali has revamped its curriculum to be more holistic by integrating sports, while maintaining a focus on English, Math, digital & financial literacy, and soft skills.“

    “We needed to effectively communicate this shift and a day with the Nanhi Kalis in the village of Jambusar gave us rich insights. For these girls, football is more than a sport, it instills in them the confidence to Rise.”

    Ogilvy India conceptualised this thought-provoking film. Ogilvy India chief creative officers Kainaz Karmakar and Harshad Rajadhyaksha opined: “We visited a rural Nanhi Kali centre and spent a lot of quality time interacting with several Nanhi Kalis, and their coaches. The raw, captivating, and liberating stories of what the simple game of football has come to mean for these little girls and their sense of confidence and self-worth, is what inspired us to create this piece of communication.

    “It is a privilege and honour for all of us at Ogilvy to partner with the super-driven Nanhi Kali client team in this journey. We are also very pleased with what our director, Afshan, has been able to bring to life in this film, working with so many amazing actual Nanhi Kalis who had never ever faced a movie camera in their lives, before this film.”

  • Mahindra Group promotes girl child education

    Mahindra Group promotes girl child education

    MUMBAI: Mahindra Group, along with Project Nanhi Kali, aim to dispel the misconceptions around girl child education, by taking on a fresh view for the phrase with the campaign #LadkiHaathSeNikalJayegi. The campaign will go live today across all digital channels of Mahindra Rise. A number of surround activities are planned, to spread the word and create a movement to support the cause. These activities will celebrate women who have achieved greatness by taking that crucial first step.

    Mahindra Education Trust senior vice president CSR and executive director Sheetal Mehta said, “With over two decades of experience in educating girls, Project Nanhi Kali has sufficient evidence that education is the only tool which enables girls to rise from a life of poverty, and go on to live a life of dignity. The objective of this campaign is to change attitudes towards girls, by giving a positive perspective to the phrase #LadkiHaathSeNikalJayegi. We hope that every Indian citizen, will not only view this film, but also help spread awareness and contribute to this worthy cause.”

    Commenting on the same, Mahindra Group chief marketing officer, group corporate brand Vivek Nayer added, “Mahindra is a socially responsible and trusted brand but with our RISE philosophy, we not only want to do good in the community, but also aim to inspire others to do good in order to drive societal change. This is the heart of Mahindra’s ‘Rise for Good’ campaigns. With the #LadkiHaathSeNikalJayegi campaign we’re turning this phrase on its head into a message of positive empowerment for girl child education and their ensuing success.”

    The Mahindra team conducted a detailed social media listening exercise on social issues. Not surprisingly, girl child education was among the most talked about issues online. Furthermore, focus group discussions highlighted that:

    1. It was a common desire among parents to be protective of the daughter. Even working mothers felt the need to restrict their daughters’ movements

    2. Men often self-appointed themselves as protectors of women

    3. Even today, there is an accepted belief that certain jobs are for women, and certain jobs aren’t

    The film has been conceptualised keeping these insights in consideration. A semi-urban setting was chosen for the film to ensure relatability, given that these beliefs exist not just in rural India, but also in cities.

    FCB Interfacechief creative officer Robby Mathew added, “This film is an ode to the unsung heroes, who reject our society’s patriarchal mindset and encourage their daughters to fly. It is a celebration of a girl child’s dreams and her father’s determination to make it happen. It changes the meaning of this often-used phrase ‘Ladki Hath Se Nikal Jaayegi’ and instead uses it to make a case for putting her destiny back into her own hands.”

    Since 1996 project Nahi Kali has empowered over 350,000 girls including 153,999 girls in this past year alone. This massive undertaking was made possible thanks to over 4,560 community associates who tutor our Nanhi Kalis for two hours every day, six days a week through the year, working across 5,262 Academic Support Centres in remote, tribal and rural pockets, as well as urban slums in 11 states of India.

  • WATConsult & Project Nanhi Kali show a powerless queen in chess

    WATConsult & Project Nanhi Kali show a powerless queen in chess

    MUMBAI: The ‘Queen’ is the most powerful piece in the game of chess, a two-player strategy board game that once originated in India in the 6th century. And yet, those very ‘Queens’ still stand powerless and violated in 21st century India.

    Therefore, in an attempt to shed light on how a society fails when it leaves its ‘Queens’ helpless and feeble, Project Nanhi Kali partnered with WATConsult, the digital and social media agency from Dentsu Aegis Network India, to launch an innovative campaign titled, ‘Powerless Queen’ on Women’s day. 

    To spread awareness about the long neglected cause, a digital version of the chess game has been created wherein, the first player’s ‘Queen’ is designed to be ‘powerless’ and does not move at all while the second player’s ‘Queen’ has all her powers, thus making the first player realise how difficult it is to win a game with the ‘Powerless Queen’. 

    To support the campaign, Tania Sachdev, an Indian chess player who holds The Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE, also known as World Chess Federation) titles of The International Master and The Woman Grandmaster also came on board.

    The campaign has become viral on social media with renounced chess player Vishwanathan Anand and others retweeting about it and taking up the Powerless Queen Challenge.

    WATConsult founder and CEO Rajiv Dingra says, “As an agency, we are very proud of this campaign. Chess is a game of power and we thought of utilising this game to let people realise how in the 6th century we made the queen the most powerful and yet in the 21st century we fail to empower women. It is an absolute challenge to win any battle with a ‘Powerless Queen’ and this campaign illustrates just that on Woman’s Day.”

    Apart from spreading the message, Tania Sachdev is also challenging people to play the digital version of the chess game on the microsite by taking the Powerless Queen Challenge. The microsite enables people to accept the challenge, play the game and donate to Project Nanhi Kali to empower the women of tomorrow.

    Project Nanhi Kali and KC Mahindra Education Trust trustee and executive director Sheetal Mehta adds, “We are happy to partner with WATConsult for this innovative campaign. We support campaigns that give out a message about the importance of ensuring equality for women and it is a win-win situation given our objective is to educate and empower girls.”