Leading global consumer health and hygiene company Reckitt, formerly RB, under the Dettol Banega Swasth India campaign today announced collaboration with leading technology based education company WhiteHat Jr to launch a unique digital scholarship program. The WhiteHat Jr Swasth Bharat Tech Champs program aims to inspire children in the age group of 6-15 years to reimagine health and hygiene solutions that impact all human touch-points from personal to domestic and from the community to the environment.
At the helm, this scholarship program will drive young Indians to participate in a cause that is in dire need of attention, reinforcing the importance of sanitation and hygiene in our communities. The program, crafted to pique the interest of young minds, will include technology as a critical lever, entailing the creation of mobile applications to tackle hygiene-related issues in the country. An open-to-all contest vetted by E&Y will invite Indian students aged 6-15 years to reimagine solutions for age-old hygiene-related issues which are still very much relevant amid COVID 19.
“The current generations’ association with technology is unimaginable, it has become their primary medium to connect, engage and express over critical issues.” said Mr. Gaurav Jain, Senior Vice President, Reckitt South Asia.
With the unprecedented pandemic changing the way we live, eat, behave and socialize in our everyday lives, focus on health and hygiene has become paramount. Our collaboration with WhiteHat Jr is an effort to not only to find immediate solutions to pressing needs of health and hygiene but also make this a lifetime priority for them. We are excited to see the creative solutions they come up with to help spread the messages and make hygiene a habit.
“Children are naturally creative and empathetic and since they aren’t predisposed to an existing concept or bound by the constraints of what’s doable, the solutions end up being genuinely innovative,” said CEO and Founder of WhiteHat Jr Karan Bajaj.
This initiative is a real-life manifestation of the mission of WhiteHat Jr to make children creators rather than being passive consumers of technology.
Mr. Ravi Bhatnagar, Director, External Affairs and Partnerships, Reckitt AMESA said
We, at Dettol Banega Swasth India believe in education as the catalyst to social change and tool to empower children. We wanted to provide the socially conscious minds a platform to reimagine this cause and come up with solutions that will encourage more children to join the movement and make a difference. We are excited at the launch of this unique program and looking forward to improving the health quotient with these solutions.
The top 50 shortlisted apps will be entitled to scholarships and the opportunity to host their apps on PlayStore and App Store for mass accessibility. The six-months campaign will be executed in three phases:
- Open to idea submissions (April 11-May 11, 2021)
- Mentorship of top 200 submitted ideas by experts from WhiteHat Jr to help them fine-tune the idea, and prepare the participants for development of mobile applications
- Finally, winner selection
Over the last six years, Dettol Banega Swasth India has played a critical role in driving true behaviour change towards better hygiene and sanitation practices for 13 million kids. The latest agenda for the campaign is to encourage the Indian population to adhere to self-care practices as a driver of change for a safer tomorrow. The pandemic, however, has enforced the paradigm shift in the entire approach towards healthcare. Health, hygiene & sanitation have come to the center-stage of people’s lives and the campaign initiatives focus on propagating better health practices, proper sanitation and adequate nutrition while protecting the environment through sustainable methods.
For more details of the program, please click here.
NDTV – Dettol Banega Swasth India campaign is an extension of the five-year-old Banega Swachh India initiative helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. It aims to spread awareness about critical health issues facing the country. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign highlights the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children to prevent maternal and child mortality, fight malnutrition, stunting, wasting, anaemia and disease prevention through vaccines. Importance of programmes like Public Distribution System (PDS), Mid-day Meal Scheme, POSHAN Abhiyan and the role of Aganwadis and ASHA workers are also covered. Only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and become a Swasth or healthy India. The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene.
