December 21, 2021: The Honorable Governor of Karnataka, Shri. Thawarchand Gehlot launched a Mobile Van Campaign on COVID-19 vaccination and released a film on ‘Vaccine Confidence’ in collaboration with Save the Children and BBC Media Action, India. The launch ceremony took place on 21st December in Raj Bhavan, Bengaluru in the presence of four children – Vishnu (12), Sangeetha (14), Umabai (14) and Sathish (13) – from the waste picking community; Shri. Jatin Mondar, Deputy Director- South Hub, Save the Children; Smt. Lakshmi Pattabi Raman, Executive Director , Saamuhika Shakti, The/Nudge Foundation; Shri. Kumar Nishant, Head of Project – PRIDE, BBC Media Action India and Sri. NM Chandrasekara, Sr. Manager – Karnataka & Tamil Nadu, Save the Children.
The film is a collaboration between Save the Children and BBC Media Action, India. Created by BBC Media Action, the film aims to dispel myths, misconceptions and fears observed in the waste picking community and ultimately, build their confidence on COVID-19 vaccines. In the film, the children make a passionate appeal to adults to not pay attention to rumours around COVID-19 vaccine, but instead listen to doctors.
Save the Children, in collaboration with Samagra Shikshana-Karnataka, Government of Karnataka and Department of Women and Child Development is implementing a project to address learning needs and healthy living amongst children from waste picking families and neighbouring communities of Bengaluru city. The project, funded by H&M Foundation, is part of the Saamuhika Shakti initiative. In addition to Save the Children and BBC Media Action, Saamuhika Shakti, a first of its kind project, brings other partner organisations – CARE India, Hasiru Dala, Sambhav by LabourNet, Social Alpha, The/Nudge Foundation and WaterAid India – to take a holistic approach to enable the waste pickers’ community in Bengaluru to have greater agency to lead secure and dignified lives.
Save the Children aims to create a conducive learning environment for 9300+ most marginalised children (3-18 years). The project will ensure the access to quality basic education with integrated child-friendly sanitation, handwashing and safe drinking water. A total of 30 s lum communities are being covered through this intervention.
Over the next 30 days, the mobile van will reach out to 12,000 households aiming to create awareness amongst 50,000 community members. The implementation strategy will bring in grassroot level partnership with Primary Health Centers to organise vaccination camps during the campaign period.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri. Thawarchand Gehlot, the Honorable Governor of Karnataka said, “I am glad that the van will run in 30 hard-to-reach locations in Bengaluru and they have collaborated with local Primary Health Center to organize COVID-19 vaccination camps at the community level. Collective action is the way to reach our ultimate goal. I also thank BBC Media Action for creating the short film on ‘Vaccine Confidence’ from the children’s lens and by involving them in the filming process.”
Shri Jatin Mondar, Deputy Director- South Hub, Save the Children said, “The challenges faced by the waste picker families and their children are profound and manifold. We at Save the Children have always chosen to be a part of the solution and call on all other stakeholders to come together for a co-commitment and affirmative action. I am very happy to be part of the campaign launch along with Shri. Thawarchand Gehlot, the Honorable Governor of Karnataka and BBC Media Action. I am sure the film created by BBC Media Action will inspire every parent and community member to opt for 2 doses of COVID-19 vaccination.”
Speaking on the film, Radharani Mitra, Global Creative Advisor, BBC Media Action said, “We at BBC Media Action are really happy to have collaborated with Save the Children to strengthen the intervention by creating this film. The important message that adults should listen to the advice of doctors and must not delay COVID-19 vaccination is best delivered by children, because they have the agency to influence their parents and elders – and that was the critical insight behind the film idea. I am particularly happy that we have children from the community in the film – their belief, energy and passion in what they were doing was truly inspiring for us. We hope that the film will motivate people from the waste-picking communities of Bengaluru to get vaccinated. Informal waste pickers play an important role in ensuring that we live in a clean and healthy environment. Therefore, it is important that they remain safe during these challenging times.”
