Leading Educate The Girl Child, an award winning, corporate campaign for improving the gender parity in education in India has been one of my most fulfilling and remarkable accomplishments. This campaign for Nestlé India, with its compelling approach, is a stirring reminder of the urgent need to address gender bias in education in India.

20 million girls drop out of school every year in India. While the rates of enrollment for girls have improved over the years, the drop out rates remain stubbornly high. An inquiry into the issue reveals that the steep dropout rate is being largely driven by issues of safety, lack of sanitation facilities for girls, the stigma around menstruation and access to good nutrition. This is underlined by a strong cultural and social mindset that believes in curtailing girls’ ambitions to domesticity.

With support from our partners, Nestle India launched a nationwide campaign to spread awareness of the issue and drive donations towards our partner NGO, Nanhi Kali – one of the largest NGOs working for education of under privileged girls. Outlined below are the multiple films and creatives produced as part of this corporate campaign.

Be a Boy.

This film draws light to the stark reality that unless you personify a boy, a girl’s chances of receiving an education are dismal.

School Chalein Hum – an anthem in support of girl child education

This anthem was originally composed in 2006 in support of the Indian government’s programme, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, aimed at boosting the objective of universalization of elementary education. We gave the original composition, a new lease of life by joining hands with the best in the music industry – the musical trio of Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy put together a new music composition along with lyricist Anvita Dutt and singer Harshdeep Kaur. Young girls from the NGO, Nanhi Kali, also participated by singing the song along with the lead singer.

TV Debate advocating for gender parity in Education

We also partnered with the most trusted and rigorous news network in the country, NDTV (New Delhi Television) to debate about this national issue with the government, NGOs and victims of this social stigma to assume collective responsibility for this issue.

With the help of the news network, we investigated stories of triumph across India and celebrated the achievements of young girls who were beating the odds.

Native Content partnerships with Digital Publishers

We worked with credible native content publishers who went into the remotest parts of the country to find stories of how young girls were fighting the stigma, and despite the gender bias, were achieving their education goals.

Packaging Change in support of girl child education

For the largest food company in the world, the most powerful vehicle of communication is its packaging. In support of the cause of girl child education, Nestle India changed the tag lines of its most iconic brands across 1 million products.

Power of Print for #EducateTheGirlChild

We partnered with the largest national daily in India, The Times of India Group to call for creative solutions leveraging the print medium to achieve the simple but very important objective of sending more girls to school. Below are the awarded entries for the campaign, that were later published in support of the cause.