To Educate, Aspire & Inspire: The Birds and Bees Talk’ Programme

Reckitt has launched the second edition of the ‘The Birds and Bees Talk’ programme, in partnership with Plan India, along with the support of the state governments of Manipur, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. It has a 2-level interactive, animated curriculum that covers growing up and life skills, to promote the core principles of inclusion, awareness, consent and protection. In its second time, the programme is building and launching its digital ecosystem to ensure that the COVID pandemic does not hinder learning and development.

Directed towards the adolescents between the age group- 10 to 19 Years in the six states of North-Eastern India- Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur and Mizoram, it intends to reach 2 million children in three years.

We spoke with the leaders behind this initiative.

Excerpts:

Ravi Bhatnagar, Director of External Affairs and Partnerships in Asia, the Middle East, and South Africa, Reckitt

Q. What essentially goes behind deciding a CSR initiative for a company like Reckitt? 

Reckitt has been dedicated to working towards achieving SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) 3,4,5 & 17 through the Durex led ‘The Birds and Bees’ programme. The key agenda is the UN vision of 2030, ‘Leave no one behind', the mission for us here is to create a one of its kind programme to educate the youth through its comprehensive growing up, life skills education curriculum by equipping thousands of young people helping them make informed choices and grow into healthy adults. Winning through Dettol Banega Swasth India is creating purpose via achieving through partnerships, innovations, design and scale. Our purpose is to protect heal and nurture for a healthier and cleaner world and have concentrated our CSR initiatives towards achieving these agendas.

Q. Why was it seen essential for Reckitt to associate with TBBT? What gap did you identify that TBBT is aiming to fill?

Knowing that the youth forms 70% of our population, we focused on achieving the SDGs for adolescents on healthcare, water, sanitisation, nutrition, partnerships, and a planet change. We found a gap and bridged it by launching a purpose-led unique life skills programme, Durex led, Reckitt supported The Birds and The Bees Talk in partnership with Plan India with the support of the state governments to promote the core principles and pillars of inclusion, awareness, equity, consent and protection. There was a dire need for such a programme in the North-eastern States as the prevalence of HIV is high in these states and people are not aware of sexual hygiene and life-threatening diseases pertaining to it. Once we measure the success rate of the programme, we will design and roll out the programme in the other States of India accordingly. The programme is not just for government schools, it is a mix of government, private schools and government-aided schools. At Reckitt, our purpose has always been to protect, heal and nurture in the relentless pursuit of a cleaner and healthier world. We fearlessly innovate in this pursuit across our hygiene, health and nutrition businesses.

Q. Two years to this initiative, what kind of an impact has it shown? What are the outcomes that you expect this year? 

The studies for the Social ROI are underway, Team Birds & Bees would be happy to share once it’s complete! 

Q. How will this partnership further strengthen your position amongst the stakeholders?

Driven by a purpose to build healthier lives and happier homes, Reckitt has operations in over 60 countries. From the foundations of wellness and infant nutrition to the fundamentals of a hygienic home, its global brands help people live healthier, happier lives. Since its inception in 2020, TBBT has successfully been able to forge partnerships with youth organisation ‘Ya_all’; leaders in healthcare systems, GE healthcare; and the government of the six states in the North East namely Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim and Nagaland. The programme has developed an e-learning platform ‘Birdsandbeesbuzz’ to deliver sessions to students across the states ensuring that knowledge is not limited by the restraints of physical classes, and an AI-powered Chatbot ‘HeloJubi’, along with a rewards and recognition programme linked to encourage schools, teachers, and students to intensively engage with the content. The holistic approach of the program envisages celebrating special days and important health days across the states leveraging its rich music, art, and culture. The focus is on deepening the impact by equipping thousands of adolescents with a curriculum that will help them make informed choices.

 Mohammad Asif, Executive Director, Plan India

Q. Two years to this initiative, what are the outcomes that you expecting this year? 

The programme has reached around 2 million schoolchildren so far.  We intend to target 3 million school children residing in remote parts of the country. We are working on a way to reach a wider set of students so that no one is left behind. Therefore, the whole process of defining success is co-adaptive. The social return on investment study would help us understand the success in an objective form, and therefore encourage and motivate other development actors to join hands and create the multiplier effect. 

Q. How does TBBT plan to make an impact on adolescents, through various initiatives? What are the different initiatives undertaken across the country?

In the second year, the programme is curating and launching its digital ecosystem to ensure that the COVID pandemic does not hinder learning and development. The digital ecosystem of the programme includes an e-learning platform called BirdsAndBeesBuzz to deliver sessions to students across the states, with a rewards and recognition method linked to encouraging schools, teachers, and students to intensively engage with the content. The programme has a mix of various elements, it has multimedia, AI-based chatbots called ‘HeloJubi’, workshops, webinars. There are also videos that are age-appropriate being extensively used for imparting age-appropriate behavioural change communication. We also intend to build leadership skills, we are following the strategy to leverage local festivals, arts and culture to spread the message of TBBT. Our recent development was using wall murals as a medium to convey messages and raise awareness amongst our youth by strategically showcasing them on Khuman Lampak Sports Complex which is also the biggest sports complex in Manipur, which is gaining good attraction. 

Q. How do the kids respond to your initiatives? Any challenges that you commonly face?

The programme has reached around 2 million school children so far with acceptance and support from the youth. In fact, once we measure our success rate on parameters like social return on investments- change in knowledge, attitude and behaviour, our reach, goodwill score, we will further plan to roll out of the programme in other states of India. No, we haven't felt any roadblocks for now.