ITV

Tag: United Nations Population Fund

  • COLORS’ upcoming social drama – ‘Doree’ sheds light on girl child abandonment

    COLORS’ upcoming social drama – ‘Doree’ sheds light on girl child abandonment

    Mumbai: Countless Indians honor women as goddesses, ironically, a significant number among them abandon female infants at birth due to the belief that a daughter cannot perpetuate the legacy of a family. As per the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report issued in 2020, about 4.6 lakh girls in India were missing at birth each year between 2013 and 2017. This grim reality reflects the insidious grip of ‘chhoti soch’ (narrow-mindedness) deeply embedded in the collective psyche even today, demanding an urgent overhaul in the way society perceives and values girl child. Addressing many such socially relevant issues and building upon its legacy of delivering distinctive content, COLORS brings to light yet another critical issue – the abandonment of girl child – through the compelling narrative of ‘Doree’. At the core of ‘Doree’ lies an unwavering depiction of a girl’s struggle that comes with her birth and the fight for her societal rights. Starring Sudhaa Chandran as Kailashi Devi Thakur, Amar Upadhyay as Ganga Prasad, and Mahi Bhanushali as Doree and produced by Jay and Kinnari Mehtaa’s Jay Mehtaa Productions, ‘Doree’ premieres on 6 November 2023 and airs every Monday to Friday at 9:00 pm only on COLORS.

    Set against the backdrop of Varanasi and highlighting social issues like girl child abandonment, the show ‘Doree’ traces the tale of a six-year-old doting daughter who lives with her foster father, Ganga Prasad in the Bunkar mohalla and questions her abandonment at birth. While Ganga Prasad counts himself lucky to have a daughter, the ruler of Varanasi’s handloom empire, Kailashi Devi Thakur deems daughters as unworthy. In this world steeped in discrimination, will Doree break the shackles of patriarchy?

    Set to be seen essaying the role of Ganga Prasad, Amar Upadhyay said, “It’s incredible to be a part of a show that aims to give viewers more than just entertainment. The show focuses on regressive mindset of abandoning female child at birth.  I’m beyond excited on portraying the character of Ganga Prasad in ‘Doree’ a dedicated father, who like any parent wants the best life for his daughter, despite facing challenges in acquiring a job due to an impaired hand. Reconnecting with COLORS for a show like this, is a matter of pride and we hope that Doree will spark conversations around such important topics in the public sphere.”

    On embodying the role of Kailashi Devi Thakur, veteran actor Sudhaa Chandran said, “I applaud COLORS for bringing a show like ‘Doree’ that sheds light on some prevalent social malady like – girl-child abandonment which even today is observed in many parts of our country. Fixated on a male heir, Kailashi Devi upholds archaic values within her family and runs its handloom empire. Having been part of numerous shows on the channel, I’m delighted to collaborate with them once again. Over the years, the audience has shown immense love for my previous roles. I’m hopeful that the same love and appreciation will be extended to this show.”  

    Producer Jay Mehtaa and Kinnari Mehtaa jointly said, “We are thrilled to present ‘Doree’, a show that delves into a heartwarming father-daughter bond and how she navigates her fight for equality against Kailashi Devi. Through Doree, our aim is to initiate impactful conversations on girl child abandonment that still persists in today’s time. We look forward to our collaboration with COLORS, and with this thought-provoking show we hope to bring a positive change in the society.”

    While being at the forefront of driving societal change through its acclaimed shows, COLORS is known for its disruptive marketing activations. To shed light on the persisting issue of girl child abandonment in our society, COLORS has carefully crafted a comprehensive marketing campaign spanning across multiple platforms. On International Girl Child Day (11 October) the HGEC launched a powerful promo for ‘Doree’ across platforms. Challenging the misconception that such practices are not prevalent in today’s world, the channel is running a campaign revealing shocking facts and real-life instances of girl child abandonment, aiming to underline the issue and underscore the importance of presenting such thought-provoking narratives. Leveraging its extensive reach, the channel will reinforce the show’s message through strategically placed billboards at prominent locations in key markets, creating a visual impact and a strong presence on social media.  As part of the digital plan for ‘Doree,’ the channel is creating a special audio-visual (AV) that narrates the legacy of the brand in bringing forward socially relevant issues which are still prevalent in the society. Its digital strategy involves working with public figures and influencers such as Swara Bhaskar, Richa Chadha, Faye D’souza and gathering opinions from the public through vox-pop segments. The channel will be teaming up with COLORS’ Social Squad and involving various artists to spread awareness about girl child abandonment. Through this well-thought-through marketing and digital campaign, the channel aims to open a dialogue about this pressing societal concern.

    Let’s pledge to bring a change in society with ‘Doree’ premiering on 6 November 2023 and thereafter every Monday to Friday at 9:00 pm only on COLORS.

    Source for the statistic: United Nations Population Fund:
    https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/UNFPA_PUB_2020_EN_State_of_World_Population.pdf

  • Dentsu-UNFPA join hands to launch CSR Advisory Services

    Dentsu-UNFPA join hands to launch CSR Advisory Services

    MUMBAI: Dentsu India’s social and development sector communication division, Citizen Dentsu, in partnership with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) India, has launched CSR advisory services, to assist corporates with their CSR planning and implementation.

    The provisions of CSR Policy, notified under the Companies Act 2013 promises to be a historic milestone, as India becomes the first country in the world to bring social responsibility to the centre stage of corporate reporting framework. The real challenge, however, for the 6000-odd corporates above a certain size, who now will be required to plan, implement and report their CSR activities annually to their stakeholders, is really coming out of a familiar domain and diving deep into a much-talked-about, but fairly unchartered CSR territory.

    It is precisely to assist companies to negotiate these challenges, that Citizen Dentsu and UNFPA have come together to launch the Citizen Dentsu-UNFPA CSR Advisory, a partnership uniquely poised to help create an ecosystem where CSR efforts will eventually benefit the client’s brands.

    Citizen Dentsu, manned by a team of professionals, has years of experience in strategic communications for numerous development sector issues like child survival and safe motherhood, immunisation, HIV and AIDS, education, water and sanitation and environment. Besides, Dentsu companies all over the world work on CSR initiatives for many of their global and local clients.

    UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) is a leading United Nations agency working across 155 countries. It has decades of experience in policy and projects linked to gender, health and human rights. In India, where over 50 per cent of the population is below 25 years of age, UNFPA strategically focuses on youth, especially adolescent girls and young women.

     Both organisations will draw upon their local experiences, as well as, global repositories of iconic CSR case studies and expertise, for their clients here.

     Emphasising the respective roles of the two partners, Dentsu India Group executive chairman and Dentsu APAC CEO Rohit Ohri said, “While Citizen Dentsu will work closely with clients in strategising and planning their CSR initiatives, helping clients extract the maximum through brand-CSR synergy, which we think company heads will be greatly interested in, UNFPA will provide technical support for projects undertaken by pre-evaluated and approved set of NGOs.”

     United Nations Population Fund India representative Frederika Meijer added, “We have a range of CSR-ready projects that companies can partner on to meet their CSR commitments in India. More importantly, with UNFPA employing globally certified protocols to monitor and evaluate non-government and civil society organisations (NGOs), as well as their work, the CSR projects can be expected to be far more efficient and effective.” She believes that while there are thousands of field-level organisations ready to take up CSR projects, Citizen Dentsu’s experience with social and developmental projects in India and UNFPA’s inputs in terms of NGO selection and planning, monitoring and evaluation of projects, would be a clear and unique differentiator.

    Rajendra Singh from Citizen Dentsu and Rajat Ray from UNFPA India will be steering the partnership. With both being seasoned hands in brand and corporate advertising, as well as in handling development-led projects, it is easy to understand why they have been picked for the task.

     Setting up and managing in-house CSR divisions will require investments by companies in specialised skills, time and infrastructure.  This unique and first-of-its-kind partnership – Citizen Dentsu-UNFPA CSR Advisory – can help companies with faster and customised solutions, without them requiring to make huge initial investments, while in the long run, passing on expertise to them through capacity building.