By A Correspondent
Viacom18 flagged off its CSR behaviour change communication campaign to tackle the unhygienic sanitation condition in the slums of Mumbai. The company has adopted four slums in the densely populated Andheri suburb of Mumbai. Under the umbrella of ‘Chakachak Mumbai’, over the last year, Viacom18 has renovated and reconstructed over 200 toilets in the locality. Underlining the importance of instigating a change in people’s mindset at the ground level, the network has roped in Ramon Magsaysay award winner Jockin Arputham and underprivileged women’s self-help collective Mahila Milan, to undertake a behaviour change communication programme.
Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO – Viacom18, flagged off the drive along with Smt. Kesarben Patel, Corporator – Salve Nagar, K-East Ward, Andheri East and well-known Marathi film personalities Mahesh Kothare, Urmila Kanetkar Kothare and Sonalee Kulkarni.
“It is my firm belief that just as its people define the organization, the organization has a soul that is the collective of its people. It is with this belief that Viacom18 has been at the forefront of amplifying socially relevant issues, through our movies, TV series, support for social causes and various on ground activities. When we formalised our CSR journey, we decided to contribute towards realizing the challenging dream of a Swachh Bharat, both through enhancing infrastructure and building awareness,†said Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO, Viacom18. He further added, “We are India’s favourite storytellers and we decided to leverage that primary strength to build the story of why good sanitary practices are important. Thus our entire behaviour change communication campaign focusses on how cleanliness leads to prosperity.â€
With the 360-degree approach of infrastructure development and behaviour change communication programme, Chakachak Mumbai looks set to bring about a noticeable improvement in the swachhta quotient of this maximum city.