Accessibility Awareness campaigns
Events of 2023
Approaches Undertaken
to Raise Awareness
Accessibility Awareness Campaign, an initiative by Svayam, was inaugurated on the 27th of March, 2023 in collaboration with the National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation Foundation (NHDFC) at the Indian Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The campaign started with a motive to raise awareness about the much-needed cause of accessibility. Svayam’s Accessibility Awareness Campaign was all about commitment to promoting the normalisation of dignity for people with reduced mobility worldwide by advocating for an inclusive and accessible environment for all.
The MOA Signing
Ceremony and Accessible Family Toilet
On March 27, 2023, Svayam and the National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation Foundation (NHDFC) signed a Memorandum of Agreement for their joint initiative, the Accessible Family Toilet (AFTs).
The inauguration ceremony was held at the Indian Habitat Centre in New Delhi, commencing at 2:00PM.
The event was graced by the presence of esteemed guests, including, Smt. Savitri Devi Jindal Chairperson Jindal Group, Mrs. Aarti Jindal, Ms. Sminu Jindal, Founder -Chairperson of Svayam and MD Jindal SAW ltd., Rajesh Aggarwal, Secretary, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Dr. D. N. Sharma, Trustee of NHFDC Foundation, Dr. SCL Gupta, Vice President of NHFDC Foundation and Arjan Batra among others.
The ceremony begun with the presentation of shawls and mementos to the distinguished guests by Smt. Savitri Devi Jindal and Mrs. Aarti Jindal, subsequently lighting the ceremonial lamp. Ms. Sminu Jindal introduced the initiative and preceded with the signing of the MoA. In addition, a short film on Accessible Family Toilets was screened for the attendees.
All the guests and the media had to register outside at the registration desk, where they were presented with tokens and goodies from the team. Press kits were distributed to the media.
The Guest of Honour, Dr. DN Sharma, addressed the gathering, followed by the Chief Guest, Dr. SCL Gupta, who also shared his thoughts on the subject. The session culminated in the inauguration of the Accessibility Awareness Week by Ms. Sminu Jindal, who also delivered a speech. The attendees then proceeded outside to witness the first ‘Nukkad Naatak,’ a street play to raise awareness with regards to accessibility and its need which was then staged across various locations in Delhi in the coming week.
Approaches Undertaken to Raise Awareness
Nukkad Natak
The Accessibility Awareness Week commenced on the 28th of March 2023, marked by the first Nukkad Naatak at ITO.
The actors made use of placards and jingles for crowd calling, while informative standees were strategically placed in the vicinity, along with barcodes providing access to all the social media channels of Svayam.
The event garnered an encouraging response from the audience which comprised of individuals from various walks of life- those inside shops, buying from stalls, cars, bikes, pedestrians and almost all kinds of people from most income groups and ages.
The public displayed a keen interest in stopping to watch the street plays, whose interactive nature ensured involvement of the audience from the start to the end. They were seen holding placards joyfully and seeing the entire performance. The initiative served as an excellent opportunity for the audience to take a short break from their daily routine with something different and simultaneously acquire important information in a fun manner. Several individuals were curious as to what is happening and approached the team to enquire about the initiative, a lot of them also asked if they could join the Svayam brigade or volunteer in one of these activities, thereby exemplifying the success of the event in raising awareness.
All the Nukkad Naataks culminated with a question-and-answer session where the audience was asked to share their understanding of the concept of accessibility, following which they provided wholesome testimonials. Participants amongst the audience were awarded Svayam’s special T-shirts and jute bags as a token of appreciation for their active participation in the event.
Nukkad Naatak: Locations
The Nukkad Naataks were performed at various places all over Delhi for 7 days. In one day, minimum 3 street plays were carried out up till 5 of them at different venues to reach out to more audiences. On an average approximately, a 100 people were the spectators of each street play, and a lot of hype was also created.
Social Media Campaign
On March 23’2023, our social media campaign commenced with a puzzle designed to pique the interest of our target audience to generate curiosity about Svayam’s upcoming initiative. The following day, the Accessibility Awareness Week was announced with a reel featuring Ms. Sminu Jindal herself. On the 25th of the same month, our branded hashtag, #SvayamKeLiye was launched.
A social media contest, centred around the concept of the Accessible Family Toilet, was conducted on the 28th of March which was also the beginning of the Accessibility Awareness Week for which a T-shirt,
Svayam’s branded bag, and couple more goodies were awarded to the chosen winners. To keep the public well informed and engaged, all the social media handles were updated with event details and locations regularly.
The Social Media Campaign was strategized with the objective of expanding the event’s outreach and enhancing its visibility for generating more awareness about not only the campaign but also about accessibility in general. The campaign included the following activities each day:
Radio Campaign
Partnering with Red FM, Fever, and Radiocity commencing 26th March, 2023, the campaign targeted a total of approximately 5 crore people across Delhi NCR. The activity was conducted with the help of 3 famous radio stations, namely Red FM, Fever and Radio City NCR. The said stations provided at outreach to people at large, making the campaign a success.
These radio channels were chosen strategically for their extensive listener base and wide geographic coverage.
Press and Coverage
Considerable effort and hours were devoted towards promoting the Accessibility Awareness Week prior to its launch. This included activities such as: A Media List inclusive of various media houses and journalists was prepared for coverage and event invites who were accordingly approached and invited to the MoA signing happening at the Indian Habitat Centre as well.
We reached out to various PR agencies and selected the most suitable ones for the tasks.
Press Release: Press releases in close to 50 newspapers in number, throughout Delhi NCR (inclusive of Gurugram and Noida) gave us a coverage worth Rs. 1,63,02,720. The online press releases with 26 different publications also amounted to a coverage worth Rs.1,13,00,000.