Slum children in Dharavi

&
Social marketing plan
WE REACH

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Asia’s largest slum is a testament of the state’s failure to address the growth of Bombay
city’s expansive underbelly. It is also a grim reminder to the gracious people of how the
underclass survives.
The profile of target adopter population has been classified according to the major
problem faced by slum children of DHARAVI. And that is child labour. Their profile is
as follows:

• Age group: 6 to 14
• Approximate number of child laborers: 5000
• Type of factories: Mainly Zari or embroidery factories as well as small leather
goods manufacturing.
• Working hours: The boys work 20-hour days, seven days a week
• Living conditions: They live in dingy 10{minute} x 10{minute} sized rooms.
The rooms have hardly any ventilation and the floors are grimy. Each room has a
small smelly bathroom located in one corner. Another corner serves as a basic
cooking area. They sleep, bathe and eat in this same room. They are given two
meals a day and, if lucky, two cups of tea.
o Physical and sexual abuse is part of this sad existence
• State of origin of labour slum children in Dharavi: Data collected from the
State Labour Department say 90 per cent of children in these units in Dharavi are
migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. They come from very poor districts such
as Rampur and Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh and Madhubani and Sitamarhi in Bihar.
West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh are some of the other
States from where children are brought.
• Monthly earnings: Rs 50 to Rs 100 PER MONTH.

The social product we are offering is:

WE REACH

It’s a drop in center in Dharavi envisaged to offer working children a space to call
their own, where they can feel comfortable and relaxed, where they can come and go
at will, enjoy recreational activities and receive primary healthcare and counseling
from qualified medical personnel. Above all, these Centers are a gateway to ‘rescuing’
these children from a lifetime of exploitation and a fundamental step in the process of
rapport building and rehabilitation.

The We reach Centre, with its brightly painted red, yellow and orange walls with
large windows and rays of sunshine streaming through, is a sight for the sore eyes of
the tiny children. Basic amenities offered here, like fresh water, hygienic sanitary
facilities; small lockers to store personal belongings are a scarce luxury for most of
them.

Our main objectives:

2
• Every child in Dharavi should go to school and be learning.
• To advocate for a more favorable social policy environment for children in the
slums.
• To improve the living conditions of slum labor children in Dharavi.
• Build capacity of WE REACH to achieve its goal.

Positioning:

Positioning statement: No slum children should ever lose his/her innocence and
enjoy fair & dignified childhood.

Contents

3
 Topics Pg. Nos.

I. Current social marketing situation 4

a) Dharavi – Twilight city 4

b) Profile of Dharavi 6

c) Profile of target adopter population 8

d) Review of social product 9

II. Opportunities & Threats 11

III. Objectives 12

IV. Social marketing strategies 13

a) Targeting 13

b) Positioning 13

c) Communication channels 13

d) Distribution channels 17

e) Publicity 19

V. Action programmes 19

VI. Social marketing budget 20

VII. Controls 22

VIII. Bibliography 23

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 Current social marketing situation:

a) Dharavi – twilight city

Asia’s largest slum is a testament of the state’s failure to address the growth of Bombay
city’s expansive underbelly. It is also a grim reminder to the gracious people of how the
underclass survives.

The ‘where’ of Dharavi can be established easily enough. Newcomers to Mumbai will
probably have the place—‘Asia’s largest slum’—pointed out to them with a nudge and
an uncomfortable chuckle as they drive out from the airport to the commercial centres of
the ‘island city’, or make their first trip south on a ‘local’ commuter train.; There is
absolutely “nothing to celebrate about living in a cramped 150 sq. ft. house with no
natural light or ventilation, without running water or sanitation”.

Geography: Dharavi is located between Mumbai's two main suburban railway lines,
Western and Central Railway. These are the virtual lifelines of Mumbai's transport
system. Dharavi is literally sandwiched beteen the two sets of tracks. To its west are
Mahim and Bandra, to the north lies the Mithi River, which empties into the Arabia
Dharavi is located between Mumbai's two main suburban railway lines, Western and
Central Railway. These are the virtual lifelines of Mumbai's transport system. Dharavi is
literally sandwiched beteen the two sets of tracks. To its west are Mahim and Bandra, to
the north lies the Mithi River, which empties into the Arabian Sea through the Mahim
Creek, and to its south and east are Sion and Matunga, Mahim.

History: Dharavi was not always a slum, and it is as old as Bombay. In the Gazetteer of
Bombay City and Island (1909), Dharavi is mentioned as one of the 'six great Koliwadas
of Bombay," or as one of the city's great fishing communities. The original inhabitants of
Dharavi were kolis, the fisherfolk, who lived at the edge of the creek that came in from
the Arabian Sea. A dam at Sion, which was adjacent to Dharavi, also hastened the process
of joining separate islands into one long, tapered mass. Thus began the transformation of
the island city of Bombay. In the process, the creek dried up, Dharavi's fisherfolk were
deprived of their traditional sustenance, and the newly emerged land from the marshes
provided space for new communities to move in. The migrants could be roughly divided
into broad categories. The first were people from Maharashtra, and in particular from the
Konkan coast, as well from Gujarat. Potters from Saurashtra were allocated land in
Dharavi to establish what is till today called Kumbharwada. The other settlers were direct
migrants to the city, many of them trained in a trade or a craft. Muslim tanners from Tamil
Nadu migrated to Dharavi and set up the leather tanning industry. Other artisans, like the
embroidery workers from Uttar Pradhesh, started the ready-made garments trade. From
Tamil Nadu, workers joined the flourishing business of making savouries and sweets like
chakli, chiki and mysore pak.

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 b) Profile of dharavi :

Demographics of Dharavi
Dharavi means: ‘Loose mud’ in Tamil, named so by the early Tamil Muslim settlers who
were tannery owners.

a. Basic Facts
• Dharavi is first an industrial estate and then a residential slum!
• Dharavi is enterprise personified – it forces people to survive, due to lack of a
safety net
• 80%+ residents of Dharavi, work in Dharavi itself.
• Majority of residents of Dharavi are Dalits
• Dharavi is a reserved SC (Schedule class) constituency.

b. Quick facts:
• 85 percent of households own a television set, 75 percent own a pressure cooker
and a mixer, 56 percent own a gas stove, and 21 percent have telephones.
• Dharavi has 28 temples, 11 mosques and 24 madarassas, 6 churches
• Oldest mosque – Badi Masjid (constructed 1887)
• Oldest temple – Ganesh Mandir (constructed 1913) – very important for Adi
Dravidas
• Khamba Deo Temple (constructed 200 years back)
• Kala Killa (constructed 1737)
• Cross at Koliwada (1853). But as Jacob Patil, the gaonpatil or mayor of Koliwada
says, the cross itself was erected in 1960. “I put that cross up in 1960, but I knew
that a new cross would be knocked down by the police when they came to know
of it. So I put the date 1853 on it, and pretended it had always been there,
unnoticed. Now it’s in the history books!
• Subash Nagar is 80 years old.
• Opposite Mahim creek, Naik Nagar, Ambedkar Nagar and Rajiv Nagar have the
worst living conditions, was built on swamp after concrete waste dumping.

c. Area

435 hectares (Other sources say 175 or 375 hectares). Population density is 17,000 per sq.
km (18,000 people per acre?)

d. Housing (Average Living space and Average family size)

Typically - Cramped 150 sq. ft. house with no natural light or ventilation, without running
water or sanitation.

e. (1986-87 NSDF/ SPARC survey)

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86,000 structures housing 106,000 families at an average of 6.2 people per house (total
about 6 lakhs population); 62 pongals are like dorms which can accommodate 30-100
men to sleep. Pongals were constructed by Adi Dravidas. Government survey counted 3
lakh people.

f. Voters
Six (municipal corporations) wards each with a voters numbering 30,000 - 45,000.

g. The important roads are:

• Dharavi Main Road
• 90 feet road
• 60 feet road
• Dharavi cross road
• Sion-Mahim link road

h. Children and Schools

1993 data for BMC “G North” ward

Municipal Primary Schools 60
Municipal Secondary Schools 4
Municipal School Buildings 47
Rented Municipal School Bldgs 13

Four BMC schools are:

• Sant Kakaiya
• Kala Killa
• Rajeshree Shahu
• Transit Camp

Main private schools are:

• Ambedkar School is an important Englsh medium school started by Andhra-
Kannnada Dalit Vargh Sangh.
• The four Tamil schools are till Std VII and then Kamaraj High school is a very
good option for locals for further studies.
• Shivaji Maharaj school
• Ganesh Vidyamandir

i. Hospitals and Doctors

1993 data for BMC “G North” ward

Municipal Hospitals 1
Municipal Maternity Homes 1
Municipal Dispensaries 10
Dental Clinics 24
Other Hospitals 5

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 c) Profile of target adopter population :

Three types of children have been identified living in Dharavi while majority of them
belongs to poor households, the nature, consequences, and constraints of poverty vary
considerably across different contexts. They include:

• Children with families: These tend to be from households of construction

workers, fishermen, rag-pickers and garbage sorters, beggars, sellers of small
items on trains, buses or streets, and pavement dwellers. The common
characteristic is that the entire family can find work in the same occupation
and it is easy for the children to accompany adults to work. Further, either due
to parents’ occupation or due to the temporary nature of the residence, children
are constantly moving around.

• Children without families: These children are typically brought to the city
from their villages by middlemen to work in particular occupations. Children
come alone or sometimes with siblings but are not accompanied by adult
family members. The usual occupations that absorb child labor in Mumbai are
zari or embroidery workshops, garage and mechanic sheds, roadside eating
stalls, small restaurants and food delivery businesses, as well as small leather
goods manufacturing.

• Children in institutional settings: Such as remand homes, orphanages, and

juvenile court homes.

The profile of target adopter population has been classified according to the major
problem faced by slum children of DHARAVI. And that is

CHILD LABOUR

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 • Age group: 6 to 14
• Approximate number of child laborers: 5000
• Type of factories: Mainly Zari or embroidery factories as well as small leather
goods manufacturing.
• Working hours: The boys work 20-hour days, seven days a week
• Living conditions: They live in dingy 10{minute} x 10{minute} sized rooms.
The rooms have hardly any ventilation and the floors are grimy. Each room has a
small smelly bathroom located in one corner. Another corner serves as a basic
cooking area. They sleep, bathe and eat in this same room. They are given two
meals a day and, if lucky, two cups of tea.
o Physical and sexual abuse is part of this sad existence
• State of origin of labour slum children in Dharavi: Data collected from the
State Labour Department say 90 per cent of children in these units in Dharavi are
migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. They come from very poor districts such
as Rampur and Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh and Madhubani and Sitamarhi in Bihar.
West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh are some of the other
States from where children are brought.
• Monthly earnings: Rs 50 to Rs 100 PER MONTH

There are two schools of thought when it comes to children working. One believes that
as long as children are first educated, it is all right for them to work for the rest of the
day. This would provide a poor family with some income. The other school seeks a
blanket ban on children working. Unfortunately, activists and lawmakers seem stuck in
this argument; as a result children continue to lose out on their childhood

9
 d) Review of social product :

WE REACH

It’s a drop in center in Dharavi envisaged to offer working children a space to call
their own, where they can feel comfortable and relaxed, where they can come and go
at will, enjoy recreational activities and receive primary healthcare and counseling
from qualified medical personnel. Above all, these Centres are a gateway to ‘rescuing’
these children from a lifetime of exploitation and a fundamental step in the process of
rapport building and rehabilitation.

The We reach Centre, with its brightly painted red, yellow and orange walls with
large windows and rays of sunshine streaming through, is a sight for the sore eyes of
the tiny children. Basic amenities offered here, like fresh water, hygienic sanitary
facilities; small lockers to store personal belongings are a scarce luxury for most of
them.

The Centre may be only 700 square feet big, but it represents a whole new world of
possibilities to all these children. A place where they can get away from their tough,
traumatic realities and get the opportunity to look to the future with hope.

The array of games, toys, posters, charts and books that fill the room are taken in with
wide-eyes and eager faces. The children delight in the chance to watch cartoons on the
tiny television, in the corner. On opening day, the excitement is visible on every child’s
glowing face, as they roll the die in a game of snakes and ladders, cheer their teammates
on while playing caroms or furrow their brows in concentration as they contemplate their
next move at chess. It seemed as if they were making the most of every moment that they
were ‘allowed’ to be here. For a few hours they could be children and then they would go
back to an abusive, often violent boss, and spend the next 16 hours bent over a wooden
frame in a sweaty workshop making intricate ‘zari’ embroidery or the leather factory.

We hopes that the escape the Centre provides will be an ideal ground to nourish the
creativity and talents of the children. They will be free to pursue their musical and artistic
interests and enjoy games likes’ cricket and basketball. Once, the children develop a sense
of comfort and security in the Centre and enjoy coming there, the Team aims to start
working on their literacy skills. Children will be encouraged to enjoy reading books by
providing them with a library stocked with a variety of books on a range of topics. After
pre-testing, competency dependent education will be given to make them proficient in
Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. Their progress will be monitored, with the eventual aim
of mainstreaming them into formal education.

The Team also plans to conduct various workshops on a regular basis at the Centre. They
will convey to local leaders, municipal authorities, parents, employers, children and other
societal stakeholders about what the health risks and economic costs are of having
children work. The employers will be encouraged to see the talents and aptitude of

10
the children working under them and be motivated to allow them to visit the Centre
for longer hours.

OPPORTUNITIES & THREATS

OPPORTUNITIES:

• Increase in political will: Towards the end of 2005, the State government set
up a Special Child Labour Task Force. In February 2006 Deputy Chief
Minister R.R. Patil declared that Maharashtra would be "child labour free" by
August 15 - an ambitious goal given the complexities of the problem but
nonetheless a move in the right direction. Furthermore, Patil announced that
employing children would be made a non-bailable offence in the State
If there is political will, it is much easier to eradicate child labour

• Change in employer’s & parent’s attitude: The employers and parents will
be encouraged to see the talents and aptitude of the children working under
them and be motivated to allow them to visit the Centre for longer hours. This
might gradually lead to the employer not only freeing the child but also might
take interest in child future. This might sound absurd but there is something
called humanity.

• Support from local leaders, municipal authorities etc: This will make the
task much easier as the main components of the community are also taking
part in the programme.

• Children themselves as change agents: The rehabilitated child himself might

be a role model and be a more effective change agent when it comes to
influencing other children working as child labour, their parents regarding
their ills and importance of childhood and education.

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 Threats:

• Weak child labour laws: Gaps in legislation are the prime cause for the
increasing rate of child labour. The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation)
Act, 1986, prohibits the engagement of children in certain employments (such as
hazardous industries) and regulates the working conditions of children in certain
other jobs. "The important thing is that the Act does not prohibit child labour in all
its forms, nor does it lay down any provision for educational opportunities for
rescued child labour.

Furthermore, the penalty for employing children is so low that it is hardly a deterrent.
The law says those caught employing children will pay fines between Rs.10,000 and
Rs.20,000 or serve imprisonment from two to five years.

Additionally, none of the other laws which protect children, such as the Juvenile
Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, the Bonded Labour System
(Abolition) Act, 1976, the Beedi and Cigar Workers (Conditions of Employment Act),
1966, and the Factories Act, 1948, provide for any form of rehabilitation for rescued
children. In fact, laws are so skewed that the Apprentice Act, 1961, and the Plantation
Labour Act, 1951, actually permit children to work. "If the lawmakers have decided to
eradicate child labour, they must first make the laws cohesive,"

• Other school of thought: One believes that as long as children are first educated,
it is all right for them to work for the rest of the day. This would provide a poor
family with some income. The other school seeks a blanket ban on children
working.

If working at the age of six to earn Rs.50 a month is a better life, then clearly India
has a long way to go before it can claim to be an emerging economy that has become
a favourite in the global market.

• Poverty: The main root cause of all the ills is of course poverty; the pressure from
parents due to poverty might lead the ward to go back to child labour in spite of
his wish against it.
• No long term rehabilitation: While a task force may solve the immediate
problem, the child labour situation in Mumbai is so grim that the greater issue that
needs addressing is why these children come here and what happens to them once
rescued. With no long-term rehabilitation plan, many of the children "saved"
return to these sweatshops.

"This is nothing but recycling of child labour.”

OBJECTIVES

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 VISION:

No slum children should ever lose his/her innocence and enjoy fair & dignified
childhood.

MISSION:

To strengthen the capacity of slum children to challenge and effect sustainable change in
their lives through research capacity building and advocacy.

OBJECTIVES:

• Every child in Dharavi should go to school and be learning.

• To advocate for a more favorable social policy environment for children in the
slums.
• To improve the living conditions of slum labor children in Dharavi.
• Build capacity of WE REACH to achieve its goal.

SOCIAL MARKETING STRATEGIES

a) Targeting:

• Geographic: Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum

• Age group: 6 to 14
• Occupation: Labour, mostly bonded labour
• Type of factories: Mainly Zari or embroidery factories as well as small
leather goods manufacturing.
• Working hours: The boys work 20-hour days, seven days a week
• Living conditions: They live in dingy 10{minute} x 10{minute} sized
rooms. The rooms have hardly any ventilation and the floors are grimy.
Each room has a small smelly bathroom located in one corner. Another
corner serves as a basic cooking area. They sleep, bathe and eat in this
same room. They are given two meals a day and, if lucky, two cups of tea.
Physical and sexual abuse is part of this sad existence

• Monthly earnings: Rs 50 to Rs 100 PER MONTH

13
 b) Positioning:

Positioning statement: No slum children should ever lose his/her innocence and
enjoy fair & dignified childhood.

c) Communication channels:
• Personal communication: ( for the target adopters)

What is it?
Part of the flow of interaction and communication between change agents and target
adopters that makes up a social change campaign

Who does it?

Community
Motivators Professionals
Organizers

Outreach workers Recruiters Extension workers

Facilitators Educators Social workers

Field Workers Counselors Service providers

Volunteers Missionaries Service deliverers

Personal Communication is the most powerful persuasion tool. Why is it so

powerful?

It's direct give-and-take exchange

you can build a relationship

target adopter feels obligation to reciprocate

14
 Two basic questions Strategies
Links
1
Are we addressing Recipi
one or more ent
people? >1
Recipi
ent

1
Outrea
Are links ch
mediated or Educa
word-of-mouth? tion

>1
W-O-
M
W-O-
M

The Message

Universal - When target-adopters are highly

motivated to adopt

Varied - When many different segments exist

FOR CORPORATES & VOLUNTEERS

• Direct Mail

Advantages to Direct Mail Decisions

15
 Audience - which of tens of
segments into better defined
thousands of mailing lists?
clusters
House lists or compiled lists?
can be personalized
How can you tell a likely volunteer
more flexible
or corporate partner?
can tell target how to
Message
respond
The Offer => Action

Execution Distribution
envelope

letter

brochure

response form

16
 • Telemarketing

Types
Inbound
Outbound

Marketer provides toll-free

number
Marketer calls Corporate
partners & volunteers.

When to Use Telemarketing

As follow-up to mass communication & direct mail

To encourage and reinforce loyalty

To get names of corporate partners & volunteers personal communication appeals

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 d) Distribution channel:

Distribution Channel
A network of institutions and agencies involved in the task of
moving products from points of production to points of
consumption

A Distribution Channel in Social Marketing

Point of Production: the social change campaign
Points of Consumption: the target adopters

Channel Level and Length

Type of Marketing Origin Middle End

Traditional
Producer Intermediary Consumer
Marketing

Social Marketing Change Agent Intermediary Adopter

Three Alternate Models for the Flow of Distribution of a Non-tangible Social

Product

Model Flow

One-Step

Social Marketer

Volunteers

Adopters

Two-Step Social Marketer

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 Media

Volunteers

Initial Adopters (change agents)

Later Adopters

Social Marketer

Ad Agency

Media

Other Social Marketers

Multi-Step
Other Ad Agencies

Other Media

Initial Adopters

Later Adopters

Professionals and Volunteers as Part of the Channel

Channel Motivation

Coercive or Legal Power

Rewards and Benefits
Professionals

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 Personal Interest and Need
Belief that Campaign Will
Benefit Society
Volunteers Desire To Help Other People

e) Publicity:

Publicity is actually for

• corporates to get the required funds from them to get the programme kicking
• For volunteers to come forward
• last but not the least to highlight the plight of child labor in Dharavi
• Corporate partners
• News channels for their coverage, which shall be immediate for a good cause will
be a shot in the arm.
• To create public awareness

Publicity can be created through pamphlets, Long marches by the citizens of the Mumbai
and so on.

Action programmes
• RESCUE OF CHILD LABORERS IN Dharavi:

To conduct rescue operations of the children held in labor intensive work. For this
actually we have to take one of the children in to confidence, so as to extract information
regarding the pitiable conditions in which other children are working. This will get the
police authorities to get into action. Acting on the cue, the local police authorities will
step up raids on the factories employing child laborers. The press too will arrive there
(Sahaara TV, Aaj Tak, NDTV and Times of India) It is emphasized that if these children
were not returned to their families immediately, they would end up being employed by
another owner.

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 • We reach Program

The WE reach program provides educational opportunities to child laborers, street

children, pavement dwellers and children in conflict with law. Teaching and learning
happens in places of work, on streets, pavements, railway platforms - wherever children
want to learn. The outreach program includes several sub-activities, as follows:

• In contact: Child meets activist a few times a week for conversational contact
• Contact Class: The instructor meets children at or near the children's work place
individually, or in small groups to teach for about 30 minutes.
• Hobby class: Group meets to draw, do handicraft, play- over 3-5 hours
• Study Class: The working children are taught at their work place in groups for 1-2
hours.

Starting with a 'contact class' where a We reach person develops a casual contact with
children, the program moves to hobby classes where children meet regularly. Many
members of the hobby class then move to more serious 'study class'.

Social marketing budget

• Method of Price Setting

Need to Consider

Costs

Adopters' Price Sensitivity

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 Unique-Value

Substitute-Awareness

Difficulty-Comparison

Total-Expenditure

End-Benefit

Shared-Cost

Sunk-Investment

Price-Quality

Inventory

• Managing the Non-Monetary Costs of Adoption

Time Costs

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 Can be lessened by:

Embedding

Anchoring

Perceived Risks

Type of Risk
Recommended Action

Psychological
Deliver psychological rewards

Social
Get endorsements from
credible sources

Usage
Reassure adopter or give free
trial

Physical
Solicit seal of approval from
authoritative institution

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 Controls

• After setting a timeline for the program, we will be checking the children currently
in contact with We reach, that is children in direct contact with them. We then
calculate cumulative child months in association with We reach, which we look
such as this:

• Apart from this we will also be monitoring the boy’s status by sending an
volunteer to the boy’s village to check up on his well being and status.

Bibliography

• www.pratham.org
• www.prathamusa.org
• Social marketing by Philip Kotler

24
• Dharavi – wikipedia
• Young slaves of India – Front line
• Dharavi profile – DiehardIndian.com
• Shadow city – a look @ Dharavi

25