#ChooMacchar
A Public Health Campaign by Civis to address vector-borne diseases in Mumbai.
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Supported by Godrej Consumer Products Limited
#Choomacchar : Phase I
The Phase 1 or Pilot Program of the ChooMacchar Campaign ran from April, 2022 to August, 2022 across four wards in the city, namely the G/North, M/East, R/South and E wards. While the G/North and E wards had been selected due to reports of high incidences of dengue and malaria in these wards, R/South and M/East were subsequently included in the pilot upon recommendation by pest control officers, given the history of high caseloads in these wards.
Partners : Phase I
We collaborated with the Insecticide Office of the BMC to identify high-risk areas within the four selected wards, and began to approach schools, colleges and non-profits operating in and around these areas. A simple and concise proposal was taken to these institutions to explain the objectives and methods of the program.
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Most of the schools and colleges we approached saw value in the program and therefore responded positively to the proposal. After discussing the timeline of the campaign, 8 educational institutions were shortlisted where the campaign could be implemented with minimal scheduling difficulties. In addition, we also partnered with the Society for Nutrition, Education & Health Action (SNEHA), a non profit working with the low-income communities in Dharavi and Kandivali.
Volunteers between the ages of 16 to 22 years from SNEHA and the selected educational institutions were oriented to the program. Participation in the campaign was completely voluntary, and interested students were further inducted into the program in the first workshop.
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Learnings and Takeaways
While most volunteers performed consistently well, it was observed that the younger volunteers from classes 9 and 10 performed better than the older ones from class 12 and above. This may be due to lighter academic schedules, which left the volunteers with more time to engage in campaign activities. One major takeaway from this phase of the campaign was that the SNEHA volunteers showed much greater involvement as compared to volunteers recruited from schools, which tells us that long-standing engagement with civic issues helps performance in this program.
When it came to reporting hotspots, the greater portion of hotspots reported were by the Civis team itself, during their time on the field. The access to technology was limited among the young volunteers, with one phone being shared between members of the family and poor access to the internet. This inhibited the full use of the reporting mechanism - as is reflected in the low number of reports.
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Establishing a lasting relationship with the civic authorities greatly aided the success of the campaign. This was secured by establishing open communication and clear points of communication with the various civic officials in each ward. Seeing their complaints being responded to and resolved in real time further bolstered the confidence of the volunteers. Providing participation certificates acknowledged by higher authorities to each volunteer in acknowledgement of their efforts further motivated them to continue civic action.
#Choomacchar : Phase II
The second phase of the ChooMacchar Campaign commenced in October 2022 and was concluded in March 2023. The program, in its second phase, was extended to include 6 wards of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), as well as 1 ward each of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) and Vasai-Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC) in the Thane and Palghar districts respectively. This helped the team understand the key differences in how various municipal authorities function, and how a working relationship can be established with them.
Partners : Phase Il
Continuing with the program design involving youth engagement for citizens between 16 and 22 years of age, we identified two pools of volunteers - one set from community based non-profit organisations and another set of students from educational institutes.
Taking forward our learnings from the first phase of the campaign, we continued our partnership with SNEHA (Society for Nutrition, Education, and Health Action) in R/South and G/North wards. We also extended our non-profit partnership with YUVA (Youth for Unitary and Voluntary Action), a community-based organisation engaged in mobilising youth. We partnered with their Anubhav Shiksha Kendra Youth groups in P/North, K/East, K/West and N wards. The partnerships with SNEHA and YUVA also enabled us to pilot the program in Thane and Palghar districts respectively, through their Kalwa and Nalasopara cohorts, thereby marking our first civic engagement programme outside the sphere of BMC.
Educational institutes that were keen to participate in community awareness programs were approached in the selected wards. The campaign identified 11th graders as the right age group to engage for the program as the academic demands on their time post their high school exams is relatively low. They are eager to develop skills through internships or community service before entering their next board exam year. We specifically targeted institutions from commerce & arts streams, as science stream students were usually busy preparing for various competitive exams and hence showed a low propensity towards engaging in the campaign. Eventually, the ChooMacchar campaign was implemented in two educational institutes in the F/North and N wards.
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Learnings and Takeaways
We were able to further strengthen the relationship with the pest control departments, the insecticide division as well as the health department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. In addition, rapport was also built in the adjoining districts of Thane and Palghar, with the vector control mechanisms in the Thane Municipal Corporation and Vasai-Virar City Municipal Corporation respectively. With adequate points of contact established in the system, we made sure that each cohort of volunteers had the opportunity to meet the pest control officers of that particular ward. The volunteers thoroughly enjoyed the sessions as the officers showed them stages of mosquito breeding, the techniques used to prevent breeding and the process of their work in preventing dengue and malaria. These interactions and meet-ups between young citizens and civic authorities helped build rapport between civic authorities and community members. The youth volunteers reported having developed more confidence in the civic bodies after these interactions.
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The volunteers were all very motivated throughout the campaign, with many going above and beyond the target number of homes. The promise of surprise gifts for top performers was identified as being a strong motivating factor. In addition, it was observed that in cohorts where the coordinators or professors were proactively involved themselves showed greater involvement and enthusiasm. At the end of the campaign, an exposure trip was organised for 10 top performing students from the SNEHA and YUVA cohorts. It was observed that such trips helped further inspiring civic engagement among the volunteers. Learning by example, their friends, classmates and neighbours were also motivated to become more proactive in community and civic matters.
In terms of technology, it was observed that access to technology and the internet was indeed a significant challenge in the areas where the campaign was conducted. Lower volunteer turnouts were also witnessed in weekly virtual meetings. This lack of access reduced the impact that the Whatsapp chatbot could have in garnering more complaints, as many people were not able to access or use the technology effectively. The delay in migrating the chatbot and therefore introducing volunteers to it caused an even lower engagement rate than the previous cycle.
#Choomacchar : Phase III
The third phase of the ChooMacchar Campaign in Mumbai began in May, 2023 and was concluded in March, 2024. The aim for this phase of the campaign was to borrow from learnings of the previous two phases and apply the same to further expand the scope of the campaign to cover more ground in the city.
To effectively broaden the program's reach, it was necessary to implement the program in as many wards as possible. Preliminary research utilising newspaper reports and data from the BMC was undertaken to identify wards with a significant incidence of Dengue and Malaria cases from 2021 to 2022. Based on this analysis, 12 out of the city's total 24 wards were shortlisted for targeted intervention.
Partners : Phase IlI
The campaign identified two pools of volunteers - one set of students from class 8 & 9 students from 5 municipal schools and another set from 36 partner colleges across the city. From the two pilot phases of the campaign, we observed that recruiting cohorts that benefited from long standing relationships built by community based organisations within the areas of their operations translated into an ability to mobilise the youth that are already motivated to drive change. As a result, Akanksha Foundation, a non-profit organisation that worked to support municipal schools in Mumbai, as well as the National Service Scheme (NSS) were identified as potential partners in the campaign.
By partnering with the Akanksha Foundation, we built relationships with 5 municipal schools where the program was implemented. The campaign identified 8th and 9th graders in these schools as the right age group to engage for the program as the academic demands on their time is relatively low and they are encouraged by the organisation to undertake activities that further personal and community development. They are eager to develop skills through internships or community service before entering their board exam year. The National Service Scheme (NSS) emerged as a pivotal partner owing to its widespread presence across numerous colleges. As the NSS is oriented towards social and community service, the students enrolled in the same tend to be motivated by a sense of social responsibility and show propensity towards civic engagement. Thus, the collaboration aided in enlisting a substantial cohort of civic-minded youth volunteers throughout the city.
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Learnings and Takeaways
The volunteers were all active in community and civic matters and therefore showed enthusiastic participation. However, the younger cohorts from classes 8 and 9 in Akanksha schools performed better than the older NSS cohorts. This was because the NSS volunteers, being in the first and second years of their degree college, had many academic and extracurricular commitments. This left them with less time to engage in campaign activities. Thus, scheduling campaign activities around their academic and college calendars would be vital in securing maximum participation.
The exposure visit continued to be a huge motivator for the school volunteers, encouraging them to do their best. For the NSS volunteers, rewards linked to academics (such as number of volunteer hours) helped encourage active participation. In addition to understanding engagement, a major takeaway from this phase of the campaign was the monitoring and evaluation of data. With the scale of volunteers and areas covered being as large, it becomes important to have a plan in place to monitor home visit information. This helps in ruling out false data and ensures accountability. Verification visits, asking for photographic proof, etc. can be some ways that can be incorporated in the monitoring and evaluation processes.
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Onboarding top performing volunteers from the previous phase as peer facilitators in the present phase yielded good results. Serving as facilitators not only honed their public speaking abilities but also provided valuable experience in program design and implementation, empowering them to make a tangible social impact. Through this approach, the program expanded citywide, leveraging the dedication and expertise of its volunteers in a sustainable manner.