E-newsletter Apr-May 2008

_{A communications initiative for a balanced, planned and stable population}

UNFPA-Laadli National Media Awards presented

The Best 12 awardees from 4 regions felicitated in New Delhi

On May 15, 2008, Population First (PF) concluded the UNFPA-Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity 2007. Held over the past eight months in four regions- west, east, south and north in the cities of Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Chandigarh respectively, the mega-media event culminated in the National Awards at New Delhi’s FICCI Auditorium. Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit was the Chief Guest while UNFPA’s Goodwill Ambassador, Lara Dutta was the Special Guest.

Launched in March 2007 by PF as part of its media advocacy component under the Laadli campaign, the awards went national with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). In the process, we have found many advocates for gender sensitivity in the media in the form of leading media personalities, jury members, cultural ambassadors and not in the least, the awardees.

Media noise on Laadli- A fact file

The following will give a better idea of the scale and reach of the awards:

Motivated media

Some of the awardees have expressed in as many words how the acknowledgement of their efforts to highlight gender disparities has motivated them to work harder. Says Aditi Bhaduri, a freelance journalist from Kolkata, "I want to thank Population First for bestowing on me the National Laadli Media award. It is important because it acknowledges the contribution that freelancers make to the media and gender issues. I would like to wish you all at Population First great success with the good work that you are doing, something which is so very critical for the health of the nation."

Others have expressed how, in the course of their interaction with other awardees, they realised how much more needs to be done. And yet others marvelled at the efforts of small publications in far-flung areas doing so much to promote the girl child. Like Natasha Jha, anchor of the show Gender Discourse on Lok Sabha TV who said after the northern region awards in Chandigarh, “I had never imagined that there is so much awareness in rural areas thanks to the small media and theatre groups and publications that are doing such excellent work. It is very inspiring.”

Says Dr. A.L. Sharada, Programme Director- PF, “We have successfully charged up the media in India- from the top bosses to junior reporters and creative ad professionals- to discuss and deliberate on ‘What exactly is gender sensitivity’.” Adds Preeti Gopalkrishnan, Coordinator- PF, “When we launched the awards, many ad agencies and newspersons mistook ‘gender sensitivity’ to be anything to do with ‘women’. This year, however, in response to our Call for Entries, they told us they had no entries, but assured us they would participate next year.” We were not disappointed; rather it is a sign that somewhere we have made them introspect about their own work, and how gender sensitive it really is! Surely a positive sign.

The team

For Population First, a Mumbai-based NGO, organising the awards was no mean task. Experienced and committed media professionals were appointed in each region as Regional Coordinators (RC) and one National Coordinator (NC) to work in tandem with the PF team. Each RC had one or two Programme Officers (PO) and worked closely with a local NGO appointed as the Collaborating Agency (CA). PF’s Executive Trustee S.V. Sista and Programme Director, A.L. Sharada guided them. Thus the organising team in each region was:

Laadli gets regional flavours

The work was shared between PF and the regional teams such that all the branding and promotion material was the responsibility of PF. The RCs and POs were in charge of organising the event from ensuring participation in the awards to finalising the awards function details.

A feature of all our events is entertainment that weaves in messages relating to gender and women’s isssues. Accordingly, the RCs contacted artistes who could perform at the regional awards, adding local flavour to the event. Thus, Mumbai-based percussionist Taufiq Qureshi performed for the Western region awards, along with a solo performance by 11-year-old Kajri Babbar of Ekjute Theatre Group of Mujhe Jeene Do, an extract from the play Ji, Jaisi Aapki Marzi. In Chennai, the renowned Kalakshetra’s troupe performed a ballet, Amba that highlighted the plight of marginalized women in a patriarchal Indian society, while Kolkattans were treated to Usha Uthup’s rendition of Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I will survive’ and Sharmila Biswas’ troupe performed a ballet Shiva-Parvati Sabda. There were two monologues by Punam Singh and Aninidita Sarbadhicari. In Chandigarh, the northern region awards function was peppered with danseuse Vijayalakshmi’s fusion of Mohiniattam with Kalaripazhattu, an ancient martial art form from Kerala. She portrayed Unniarcha, a legendary Keralite heroine who learns Kalaripazhattu, a hitherto traditional male bastion, to protect herself and defeats men in an ensuing fight. PF also sponsored a theatre workshop for school students of Chandigarh where Mr. Manjul Bhardwaj of the Experimental Theatre Foundation trained them to develop the script through a process of role-play and experience sharing. The students have since, performed the play all over Chandigarh to raise awareness about the issue of sex selection.

Likewise, for the national awards on May 15, we had two stellar performances- Dr. Mallika Sarabhai performed Sita’s Daughters, a ballet that questions gender discrimination and extracts from Lushin Dubey’s Bitter Chocolate, a play that deals with child sexual abuse in a gender sensitive way. The curtain raiser was a moving rendition of the title track of the film, Taare Zameen Par by 35 girls of ages 6 to 8 years. All holding a lighted diya (lamp) in the hand, it was as if they were pleading to allow girls to be born.

Pillars of strength

The media awards were conceived by PF to make it a high-impact event leading to media visibility on the Laadli campaign, and more importantly, among the opinion- and policy-makers. For all the awards, we had prominent personalities as our Chief Guest, Special Guest and Guest of Honour. In Mumbai, Deputy Governor- Reserve Bank of India, Usha Thorat was the Chief Guest, while in Chennai it was Hon. Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Poongodai. Prof. M.S. Swaminathan, Chairman, MSS Research Foundation and the US and German Consuls, David Hopper and Roland Friedrich Herrmann were the Guests of Honour. In Kolkata, Justice (Retd) Smt Manjula Bose and Ms. Aloka Mitra were the Chief Guests, while Chandigarh had the Governor of Punjab, Retd Gen (Retd) S F Rodrigues, PVSM, VSM as the Chief Guest and Hon. Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, Lakshmi Kanta Chawla was the Guest of Honour.

With the Laadli campaign being endorsed by such distinguished leaders, we are happy that it is gaining recognition as a national movement to save the girl child.

Cultural ambassadors for Laadli

The Regional Coordinators have made one more contribution to the Laadli campaign by getting us the support of leading local entertainment and cultural personalities. In the south, we had actress Khusbu and dancer-sisters Lata and Gita Krishnaswamy pledge their commitment to address gender issues in their work. Anu Menon, better known among the youth as ‘Lola Kutty’ spoke passionately about the girl child. In Kolkata, singer Usha Uthup had pledged her support to the campaign. The support of these celebrities is a valuable asset and having them speak up for the girl child is sure to give the campaign a fillip.

A surge of support

The campaign has found support from many quarters- corporates, banks, media personalities, artistes and individuals. Essar’s Mobile Hotspot, Jet Airways and HDFC are among our corporate supporters for the media awards.

Words of appreciation

Kind words that give us the strength to go on.

“Congratulations. You are leading a great campaign, whose impact will be seen by generations to come.”

_{Seema Paharia, Delhi (by SMS)}

“Sitting in the train, passing by the villages and towns, I think there is much more to be done. The award has given us all strength to keep the cause alive. I feel happy about it and owe this feeling of joy to you.”

^{Ravinder Bawa of Aaj Tak, Delhi- Northern region awardee}

^Con