The report by Carewater INREM Foundation deals with Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology, which is emerging as an important solution for drinking water treatment in rural Gujarat. RO plants with capacity ranging from 10 litres per hour (lph) to 6000 lph are now supplying drinking water in several hundred villages of the State. Small sized plants with capacity < 20 lph are used by individual families whereas medium to large sized plants (>100 lph) are being used for public consumption.
The mode of operation of these larger plants ranges from exclusively owned as a pure business to those owned by the community. The large RO plants (100 lph – 2000 lph) are located in few pockets like the coastal stretch close to Surat and are predominant in areas where affluent non-resident Indians have donated plants for their native villages.
Local assemblers of treatment plants located in small towns have played a major role in this boom. Some of the plants are by choice restricted to one society or community, whereas others are open access giving rise to several offshoot water suppliers serving surrounding villages.
Planning of future treatment systems in rural areas, needs to keep in mind the need of the community, proper maintenance, awareness generation amongst potential consumers, proper regulation of price and attention to safe disposal of effluent from the plants. The study indicates the need to take care of these aspects -
• RO technologies need to be promoted only for those areas where the dependable source of drinking water has dissolved salts and chemical pollutants, such as fluoride, arsenic and high TDS. An expensive technology like this is not necessary when biological contamination is the only problem.
• Local institutions need to be strengthened for proper maintenance of the plant. There have been several failures of such plants in the past such as the Nalgonda filters in the 80's-90's and RO plants in the 90's in coastal Gujarat, mainly because of poor local institutional involvement in operation of the plant.
• Keeping a balance over cost recovery and community orientation is necessary so that both sustainability of plant and reach to maximum users is achieved. It is essential to have awareness programs and promotion schemes for introducing the treated water to users, many of whom just need a small push.
• Proper disposal of effluents from the plant is vital to avoid conflicts with the other users of water bodies.
Source: Times Of India 25/10/2010
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Branding Strategy in Rural Communication
Branding involves a gamut of activities the sum total of which lead to the creation of the brand. But when the scenario is looked under the lens of rural market, the variables and dynamics of marketing and communication get redefined. India is a country which is witnessing robust growth and a booming economy.
The growth in the country is happening at a steady rate as foreign funds flow to fund infrastructure and consumer markets that seek to tap the rural domains in an extensive manner. So, how do the dynamics change with the change of settings i.e. from a urban market towards rural markets. Are the rules different in this case? Well, the rules may be the same but the perspective of approaching things might be different. In other words, it calls for looking at the scenario with a rural and pragmatic lens.
There are many unsaid dictum’s of rural communication which are being used effectively by leading advertising houses like O&M to market brands. Most of these are subject to terrain, demographics, & psycho graphics of the different rural regions in the country.
So, devising an effective rural communication campaign calls for few caveats and imperatives that cannot be ignored. A few measures which could prove effective in rural communications are:
Understanding the Audience :
The psyche of the audience is of foremost importance when it comes to communicating messages related to brands. People or consumers in each region have their own set of idiosyncrasies and dogmas which are deeply rooted to their rituals and customs. So, what would apply to one would in all certainty not apply to another set of consumers in a different rural region.
Creativity :
As people in each region have their own cultures and rituals, this implies they have their set of symbols or identifiers which once identified could be used in a very effective manner. This is conveyed through wall painting which still convey in rural parts of India, places like villages where a colorfully painted walls become the centre of attraction and as the communities are closed in nature, people passing by the walls notice the product which leads to high brand recall value.
Apart from the symbols there could other aspects such as place of worship where crowds throng in large numbers. So, O&M used this very effectively for Lifebuoy by conveying the message of safe health by propagating it through Gurudwaras. They put up banners and billboards which emphasized the importance of using soaps for good health.
Use of Common Sense :
It often happens that in a bid to look at minuscule aspects revolving around marketing, Brand managers in advertising firms fail to apply common sense- A tool that comes in as a very potent measure in rural communication. An example of the same could be seen in the visual communication used by O&M to bring out the difference in loose and packed tea by drawing a parallel to healthy and inferior grains, a correlation that worked instantly in the rural communities which depend on agriculture for livelihood.
Branding Objects :
Advertising firms could resort to visible means of communication that percolates into the daily lives of the community by branding objects used by the community people. This could range from their buckets to painting wells, both of which could lead to high brand recall value.
These were just a few thoughts which could go a long way when it came to effective communication aimed at a rural audience and these are not the only ones. While devising the communication strategy for an audience that has a different way of viewing and perceiving things, it is the behavior that need to be addressed and not just mere superficial needs.
Well, there exists many more but most of them adhere to one primary line when it comes to the rural audience – Me , Myself and My Community.
Source: Hindustan Times article as on 4/11/2010
The growth in the country is happening at a steady rate as foreign funds flow to fund infrastructure and consumer markets that seek to tap the rural domains in an extensive manner. So, how do the dynamics change with the change of settings i.e. from a urban market towards rural markets. Are the rules different in this case? Well, the rules may be the same but the perspective of approaching things might be different. In other words, it calls for looking at the scenario with a rural and pragmatic lens.
So, devising an effective rural communication campaign calls for few caveats and imperatives that cannot be ignored. A few measures which could prove effective in rural communications are:
Understanding the Audience :
The psyche of the audience is of foremost importance when it comes to communicating messages related to brands. People or consumers in each region have their own set of idiosyncrasies and dogmas which are deeply rooted to their rituals and customs. So, what would apply to one would in all certainty not apply to another set of consumers in a different rural region.
Creativity :
As people in each region have their own cultures and rituals, this implies they have their set of symbols or identifiers which once identified could be used in a very effective manner. This is conveyed through wall painting which still convey in rural parts of India, places like villages where a colorfully painted walls become the centre of attraction and as the communities are closed in nature, people passing by the walls notice the product which leads to high brand recall value.
Use of Common Sense :
It often happens that in a bid to look at minuscule aspects revolving around marketing, Brand managers in advertising firms fail to apply common sense- A tool that comes in as a very potent measure in rural communication. An example of the same could be seen in the visual communication used by O&M to bring out the difference in loose and packed tea by drawing a parallel to healthy and inferior grains, a correlation that worked instantly in the rural communities which depend on agriculture for livelihood.
Branding Objects :
Advertising firms could resort to visible means of communication that percolates into the daily lives of the community by branding objects used by the community people. This could range from their buckets to painting wells, both of which could lead to high brand recall value.
These were just a few thoughts which could go a long way when it came to effective communication aimed at a rural audience and these are not the only ones. While devising the communication strategy for an audience that has a different way of viewing and perceiving things, it is the behavior that need to be addressed and not just mere superficial needs.
Well, there exists many more but most of them adhere to one primary line when it comes to the rural audience – Me , Myself and My Community.
Source: Hindustan Times article as on 4/11/2010
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