It is my second day at the train halt point in Patna. A number of BBC Hindi Radio listeners have assembled at a modest venue in central Patna to speak to programme makers.

Here, I am surrounded by a group of about 10 Bihari men. Should I do it? Should I take out my mobile phone and press the button that starts my ringtone?  I want to make the most of my visit to Bihar and get feedback from people we are trying to reach with our work. I decide to give it a go. I want to know what these men think when they hear my ringtone.

I press the button. The ringtone begins to chime.

Con… con… con… con, CONDOM!

Some smile, some smirk, another stands by, expressionless.

The BBC World Service Trust is working in partnership with the Government of India’s National Aids Control Organisation on a mass media campaign to make condoms more acceptable. India has approximately 2.3 million people living with HIV. Condoms are effective in preventing HIV; however, research indicates that a key barrier to condom use is embarrassment and negative judgement of condom users. Our aim is to make condoms more socially acceptable so that people can purchase and use condoms without embarrassment or judgement.

Characters from our television advertisement, promoting the condom ringtone

Along with an integrated mass media campaign that includes television and radio advertisements, we created a condom-themed mobile ringtone. The ringtone repeats the word “condom” 55 times in an appealing a cappella-style song. Those who want to show support for condoms, or those who just like the ringtone, can download it on their mobile phones. India is the world’s fastest-growing mobile telephone market, with approximately 400 million users. We decided to develop a condom ringtone to capitalise on the popularity of mobile phones and personalized ringtones. We received nearly 550,000 requests to download the ringtone through SMS short code in India, plus another 200,000 requests from the dedicated website,  from people around the world.

So what did these men have to say about ringtone? One thought it “strange”. Another followed, saying, “It is not strange. It is practical. Something like this is necessary. In our country, we need to know about these things. The ringtone will help make condoms more known.” Another man added, “In our culture, we know everything about each other, but we don’t discuss these things. I think it will be very effective, very beneficial.”

I was pleased to hear this reaction because one of the objectives of our “condom normalisation” project is to get people talking about condoms. Research shows that men who talk about condoms are more likely to be consistent condom users. Every time one’s phone rings, people react and conversation ensues. The aim is that embarrassment about the word will gradually reduce and condoms become “normal” health products.

The young man who had been smiling the whole time, a 21 year old working as a trainee in a 3 star hotel, volunteered that he had seen the ringtone advertisement on television and liked it very much. I asked him if he would use the ringtone on his phone and he said yes, but added, “We can’t use it in front of our parents.” An older man added, “17-18 year olds are engaging in sex, but they do not have the knowledge. Therefore I think this ringtone is a good thing.”

And what do the women think of the ringtone? I asked one of our citizen journalists (see my previous blog) who said “I don’t think I can use it. If I am in a meeting at work, I would get embarrassed. I don’t feel shy, but I would worry about how other people would react.”

These views show that some progress has been made in making condoms more acceptable. They are corroborated by the project’s impact research findings. However, these views and the impact data also demonstrate that there is still work to be done. Attitudinal and behaviour change are slow, gradual processes and the stimuli required to influence positive change should be regular and long term.

Now it’s time to leave the train and head back to Delhi. This journey has allowed me to speak to some of our partners and the people we are reaching with our entertainment and factual programmes, advertisements, and even mobile ringtones. I have been reminded that in the state of Bihar, and elsewhere in India, the development challenges are many and the potential for mass media to be used to communicate information (whether it be on child nutrition or immunisation, promoting human rights or tackling bonded labour) is vast. As the Trust celebrates its ten year anniversary working in India this year, we will endeavour to meet these new challenges as well as continue to take advantage of the thriving media market in India to help people improve their lives.

The BBC Election Train pulled into Patna station in the early hours of the hottest day of the season. It was 42.8 degrees Celsius. Despite the heat, I was looking forward to meeting some of our project partners and understanding what more can be done in Bihar, one of the poorest states in the country. 

According to India’s National Family Health Survey, 42% of children nationally are underweight.  However, in Bihar it is even higher at 58%. Fewer than 20% of births are delivered in a health facility in Bihar (again, considerably worse than the national average). There is a lot of scope for mass media campaigns that can inform mothers about the best feeding and birthing practices and challenge socially accepted practices which mean women and girls have poorer access to  food, health services and education.

Former Chief Minister of Bihar Laloo Prasad Yadav passing out ice cream to BBC journalists at his home in Patna

I met up with former Chief Minister of Bihar and current national railways Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav at his home in Patna. Considering the poor maternal and child health indicators in his state, I asked him what he believed to be the greatest need in this area and how did it could be met. He responded by saying that when he headed the state government, he concentrated on immunization, sanitation and education. His view was that local government bodies should have the power to prepare their own budgets and the funds to implement their programmes directly.

During this election time, he was keen to leave a good impression on the visiting BBC journalists. He arranged to have an ice cream cart enter his compound, and personally served each of us a cup of ice cream. His welcome was a clear signal of his aim to woo us at a time when his political popularity in the state is not what it was.

Beyond Mr.Yadav’s courtyard, I caught up with two women whom we trained as “citizen journalists” for our radio programme Aangan Ke Paar (“Beyond the Courtyard”).  This half-hour weekly radio programme broadcast in 2007 was made by and for women in Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. It aimed to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS as well as other issues in the context of women’s empowerment. Twelve women, all involved in development work and most from rural areas, were trained in the basics of journalism and radio reporting. Armed with their new skills , they returned to their communities and recorded material on locally relevant issues. Topics included women’s participation in local government, early marriage and women’s ability to negotiate safe sex.

Our Citizen Journalists Shahina Perween (left) and Vijayashree Dangre

Vijayashree Dangre, 36, currently working at UNICEF as a child survival officer for Patna district, says “I was very happy because the project gave me a chance to interact with the community, especially with the women. We raised all women’s issues through this programme. I am proud of myself for being part of the Aangan Ke Paar team.”

Thirty-two year old unmarried Shahina Perween is a feisty woman working on a women’s leadership initiative for the Hunger Project. When she starts to speak, it is difficult to get a word in as she has so much she wants to share. I asked her to tell me about her experience working on Aangan Ke Paar. She tells me enthusiastically that people still talk about the programme. “When I go into the villages, they obviously don’t recognize me when they see me (because it was a radio show), but when they hear my name they ask, ‘why are you not on the radio anymore? Even now, sister, we remember those episodes on HIV, malnutrition and domestic violence.’”

Why does she think people still remember the programme?  “Radio is very important because electricity is a problem here, so radio is more popular than TV. Also, people listen to the radio in groups, so there is always a good audience, and this helps generate discussion about important issues raised in the programme.”

Vijayashree elaborates: “When we go to the community to interview women suffering from dowry, early marriage and HIV, we show them that these issues are worth discussing. You see, women don’t share these things with their husbands or others. They tolerate things. With the radio programme, they realized that they could talk about these things. And other women also get to hear that they have the same problems, that they are not alone. Women who hear their voices on the radio think, ‘everyone is listening to me, they are now paying attention to my problems.’”

BBC election train

I asked what would they like to see in the future, and both were emphatic that there need to be more programmes that address women’s issues. “At the moment there is no platform for us to get our voices heard. No one listens to us,” Shahina asserts. According to Shahina, the main issues that need to be addressed are domestic violence, HIV, trafficking, malnutrition, girl child education and information about government schemes available to women and children.

And not just for women.  Shahina pointed out that programmes that target women should appeal to men as well, as men need to understand issues that are important to women, as they play a role in gender equality. An example she cited was that earning women should be able to keep their money instead of handing it over to their husbands. When I asked what would they want to spend their money on, she said that the point was that they – rather than their husbands – should have the right to decide.

I told them we are about to launch a radio drama for women, and I asked them if drama would be effective at addressing women’s issues. They agreed excitedly, Vijayashree adding, “as long as it is not boring and there is a good balance between a social message and entertainment.” At this point, I was the one who was agreeing emphatically.

Local band Bhoomi ("Earth") join the BBC election train

What can a band of musicians do to help people prepare for natural disasters?

Well, if you are West Bengal’s hit band Bhoomi, you use your popularity to encourage people to take simple steps that could save lives and limit the damage from floods and cyclones.

In February this year, Bhoomi helped the BBC World Service Trust raise awareness about disaster preparedness through a high-profile public concert. The 3000 seat stadium in Kolkata was packed – many in the audience lived in communities vulnerable to disaster. The concert blended live music with vital information about how to reduce the risks and impact of disasters, such as ill health, exploitation and loss of property and livelihoods. The band wrote a signature tune on disaster preparedness for the concert. With the help of Bhoomi’s music and a host of Bengali celebrities, the audience was reminded that they should have an emergency plan in place, ensure that they store chlorine tablets in case water is spoiled by the monsoon rains and keep important documents in a safe, waterproof place.

I got the chance to reunite with Bhoomi tonight at Howrah train station. It was late and they managed to find an empty spot-lit section of the platform to take up their instruments and sing about a common theme in their music: nature. Bhoomi, which means “earth” in Bengali, attracted late night travellers smiling as they heard familiar songs. Whether they’ve read it in the newspaper or heard it in a folk song, a reminder of a natural calamity can help encourage people to reflect on how they can prepare themselves and their families.

In a country where 428 million people watch television, 185 million read newspapers and 163 million listen to the radio, it makes sense to use mass media to provide live-saving information to communities before, during and after an emergency.

India is one of the worst affected countries in the world by natural disasters. Of the 32 states and union territories, 22 are disaster-prone. About five tropical cyclones form in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea every year and half of these are considered severe. Here in West Bengal, over half of the state is susceptible to floods.

Save the Children (Bal Raksha, Bharat), which supported our disaster risk reduction project in West Bengal, arranged for 100 people from the coastal areas vulnerable to disaster to travel to Kolkata for the Bhoomi concert earlier this year.  Today I met Save the Children’s Programme Coordinator, Biswarup Banerjee, and asked him what the feedback had been. He said that many had been struck by the fact that people living in the city were talking about preparedness, so why shouldn’t they do the same?

The Trust’s year-long project focusing on disasters involved NGOs, the government and the news media in West Bengal and Orissa to raise the profile of disaster preparedness.  Through media skills training, the Trust aimed to improve the capacity of NGOs dealing with disaster risk reduction to use the media as an effective tool for communicating.

Save the Children works on preparing people for disasters as well as relief and rehabilitation.  Along with many of the NGO partners involved in our project, Save the Children trains vulnerable communities to reduce risk, and in the aftermath of disaster it provides food, clothing, shelter, hygiene kits and safe drinking water. Many NGOs are doing great work to prepare communities, like in this photo where people vulnerable to floods are learning how to swim. But the message of preparedness needs to reach beyond those directly involved in local NGO activities. It needs to reach decision makers and communities who are currently underserved by governments or NGOs.

People from vulnerable communities learn how to swim

Biswarup told me that he has noticed the impact of our training on Save the Children’s local partner NGOs. After recent floods, one of the NGOs we trained in media skills was able to secure media coverage in a leading Bengali daily. This media coverage raised the profile of the issue and put pressure on local officials to provide essential services to the affected community. “If it is in the media, the government pays attention. Media has a lot of influence.”

Biswarup went on to say that media training helped NGOs “understand the media pulse, demonstrate how to present stories in an interesting way and establish contacts between NGOs and the local media.” I asked if he thought the project was sustainable? “Definitely,” he asserts. “The biggest indicator of sustainability is that the local NGO set up a media unit within the organisation. They realised the importance of the media in a way that was missing completely before.”

The serenade from Bhoomi was a fitting way to leave West Bengal and head to our next destination, Bihar. There I’ll speak to a female activist and “citizen journalist” about gender equality in her state.

Yvonne MacPherson

My journalist colleagues at the BBC are being swept up in election fever here in India. To get closer to listeners and viewers, the BBC’s seven-coach Election Train is travelling 7500km in 18 days, stopping in eight cities along the way. BBC journalists from around the world are on board reporting on the general election and how it affects India and the rest of the world. I’ve joined my colleagues to meet some of the people we have reached through our work. For the next four days, I will be writing about my experiences in this series of blogs.

The BBC World Service Trust, the BBC’s international charity, has worked in India for 10 years. Connecting with our audiences is always important, so this is a good opportunity for me speak to people and partner organisations to reflect on what we have done, and what we could do in the future to use the media to improve people’s lives. Over the last 10 years, we’ve made television and radio dramas and discussion programmes to raise awareness about leprosy and HIV. To encourage women’s empowerment we’ve trained a group of women as “citizen journalists”, and through more training, strengthened reporting on issues such as HIV, the environment and disaster preparedness.

At election time, people are reflecting on how much India has changed and the challenges that lie ahead. While the term “development” has been repeated many times during this election campaign, many commentators feel that the election has been “issueless” with not enough attention paid to realities facing the bulk of the population.

The contrasts are certainly stark. India is the world’s fasting growing economy, with 24 Indian billionaires on the “Forbes” rich list this year. This is a country which has launched its own satellites and sent a spacecraft to the moon. But it is also a country where over 450 million citizens live below the global poverty line of less than $1.25 a day (42% of the population). This series of blogs will focus on some of the main development challenges in India.

My journey starts in Kolkata, where the train has pulled in to one of India’s oldest train stations, Howrah. Its twenty-three platforms handle over three hundred trains each day, serving more than a million passengers. Here I’ll meet up with a popular local band and explore how music is encouraging people to prepare themselves for the cyclones, floods and droughts that are all too common in West Bengal.

Keep checking this blog to hear more about Yvonne’s journey. You can also read and listen to reports from BBC journalists on the train on the BBC website.