Social Marketing Plan

SOCIAL MARKETING PLAN
ON
CHILD LABOR

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Our Social Marketing plan mainly includes the awareness of Child Labor in India. This is mainly important because exploitation of children have been taking place for generations now in India. For the development of the country and the children of India, it is very important that everybody are encouraged to get their education. Therefore this is a problem which is on the rise and has to be dealt with seriously, which will result in the improvement of the social and economic conditions of the children as well as country.
The problem of child labour exploitation is a major challenge to the progress of developing countries. Children work at the cost of their right to education which leaves them permanently trapped in the poverty cycle, without the education and literacy required for better-paying jobs. This is particularly serious in India as it tops the list with the highest number of child labourers in the world. The 2001 national census of India estimated the total number of child labour, aged 5–14, to be at 17 million. Out of the 12.6 million, 0.12 million engages in hazardous job. However, according to informal labour force statistics, the problem seems to be more severe than reflected. Child labour is estimated to be as large as 60 million in India, as many children are "hidden workers" working in homes or in the underground economy. In the long run, this will evolve to be both a social and an economic problem as economic disparities widen between the poor and educationally backward states and that of the faster-growing states. India has the highest number of labourers in the world under 14 years of age. Although the Constitution of India guarantees free and compulsory education to children between the age of 6 to 14 and prohibits employment of children younger than 14 in any hazardous environment, child labour is prevalent in almost all informal sectors of the Indian economy.
Child labour is prevalent mainly in the following sectors in India, such as The Mining Sector, Diamond Industry, Fireworks manufacture, Silk manufacture, Construction, Brick Kilns,Hotels and Dhabas and various Factories. They are also used a lot as Domestic labourers in most of the metropolitan areas. Our plan will include spreading awareness to some of these areas.

Major Causes of child labour:
Many Indian families send their children to work, with some living away from home. Reasons are often associated with poverty, keeping up with the large-size family subsistence and inadequate public education infrastructure. Families generally are also unable to afford their children’s education. Attending school means forgoing a source of income for the family. This is a common problem, especially in the low caste and minorities of India.
The demand for child labour further aggravates the situation. Many manufacturing firms and sweatshops are strategically located at poverty-stricken areas to attract children to work as labourers. One example is the textile factory in Delhi where clothes for the International brand “GAP” were manufactured. With profit maximizing objectives, firms are incentivised to employ children rather than adults due to their cheaper wages, higher efficiency and most importantly, absence of union problems. The worst form of child labours would probably be bonded labour. It refers to children who are “sold” by their parents for a petty sum, a loan or to pay off debts. A form of long run employer-slave relationship is formed when these children are tied to this debt bondage to work for their employers for a time period that could be stretched to a lifetime, and usually it is for a minimal or no wages. There has been no universally accepted number of bonded child labourers in India, but one estimate in 2000 shows that there were 15 million child labourers who were bonded. Bonded child labour is practiced widely across many parts of rural India and across multiple industries. Though bondage is illegal in India and initiatives have been taken to stop bonded child labours, little has been achieved. Both Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 and Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986, have done little to help the bonded child labourers as the employers tend to use the loopholes and ambiguity in the act to their advantage.

Impact of Child exploitation on Children:
Employing children for labour is an act that endangers a child’s physical/emotional health and development without giving the child an opportunity for good education, food and shelter. Of the four major types of child abuses, physical, sexual, emotional and neglect, child labour falls under neglect exploitation and emotional abuse. Child labour is the exploitation of children for commercial reasons. Neglect is a different concept to exploitation and constitutes a failure to provide for a child’s basic need. The forms of neglect include physical, educational and emotional. Physical neglect includes inadequate provision of food, housing and clothing, denial of medical care and inadequate hygiene. Educational neglect is the failure to enrol a child at a mandatory school age in school. Emotional neglect is the lack of emotional support such as the failure to provide psychological care, domestic violence and allowing a child to participate in drugs and alcohol abuse.

Legislation:
From the time of its independence, India has committed itself to be against child labor. Article 24 of the Indian constitution clearly states that "No child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or employed in any hazardous employment" The Bonded Labour System Act of 1976 fulfills the Indian Constitution 's directive of ending forced labour A Plethora of additional protective legislation has been put in place. There are distinct laws governing child labour in factories in commercial establishments, on plantations and in apprenticeships. There are laws governing the use of migrant labour and contract labour. A recent law The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation law) of 1986 designates a child as a person who has not completed their 14th year of age. It purports to regulate the hours and the conditions of child workers and to prohibit child workers in certain enumerated hazardous industries. However there is neither blanket prohibition on the use of child labour, nor any universal minimum age set for child workers. All of the policies that the Indian government has in place are in accordance with the Constitution of India, and all support the eradication of Child Labor. The problem of child labor still remains even though all of these policies are existent. Enforcement is the key aspect that is lacking in the government 's efforts.

ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS

Strength: * There are lot of initiatives being taken by the Government and also presence of various Non Government initiatives to reduce child labour * Many people of the literati class are aware of this scenario and are willing to help these children by providing monetary benefits, sponsoring them for education, etc. As they have become more aware of there surroundings and the graveness of the situation
Weakness:
* The target market is mainly in the pre-contemplation/contemplation stages, as many of them are not even thinking about educating their children or some of them are aware of it but are not taking any step towards it * Most of the people are not yet ready to accept this sort of a radical change as many of the families maybe dependent on these children for their livelihood * The target market is scattered all over
Opportunity:
* The major problem is that nothing much has been done, with regards to child labour, therefore if persistent efforts are put in, we can go a long way in this regard * Moreover these children are the future of tomorrow, if we consider India, most of these children are present in the rural areas and present a very large section of the society. Therefore working on improving their social and economic conditions will also benefit the country as a whole, as they will become the future of the country
Threat:
* These children represent the weaker section of the society, therefore they can be easily dominated and also can be made use of * These children also have lot of pressure from their parents side, as they are dependent on their children for making their livelihood * Due to the corruption present in the country, many of the businessmen/organizations do not give exact data with respect to child labor. Therefore the figures published by the government are much lower than the actual figures.

GOALS & OBJECTIVES

MISSION STATEMENT:
“Fighting exploitation of children through education”
To make the target market aware and take responsibility in improving the situation of the deprived Indian children, through education thereby fighting poverty and exploitation to produce an India free of Child labour in the years to come.

GOALS & OBJECTIVES: * To have a proper communication with all our stakeholders such as the Government, Corporate’s, Civil Society, People’s forum * To make a difference by bringing about a change in their behavior towards the issue. * Increase in the number of children enrolling in Govt. Schools * Reduction in number of children employees in factories * Number of complaints registered against child labour,etc * To have a check every six months in the various regions to check if the above two goals are met and introduce changes accordingly.

POSITIONING STATEMENT:
“Every child is equal”
We seek to create a society where rights of children are secured, citizenship realized and human potential fulfilled for all.

TARGET MARKET
Geographically we have divided our target market into five areas, i.e * Metropolitan cities: Delhi and Mumbai * Surat, Gujarat * Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu * Jharkhand * Chhattisgarh
The metropolitan cities are further divided into the slum/lower sections i.e. people living below poverty line, urban households, employers of various hotels/dhabas and the Government. In the regional areas we will be targeting the State Governments, owners of factories, mines, the Corporate’s, Regional NGO’s, rural and poor people.
The above classification was done taking into consideration the Demographics, such as income level, life style and the psychographics where we considered the attitudes, beliefs,etc.
Behaviour we are aiming to change: * We are trying to change the outlook of parents who send their children for work, we will have to show them the bigger picture, how it will benefit them, their children, by not sending their children for work, the children will get better education, overall development which will amount in them getting better jobs, hence more money and a better lifestyle * The attitude of households and hotels/dhabas who employ these children to do work for them at a lower cost. We will try to make them aware that employing children under the age of 14, is illegal and by doing so they can be fined and put under the bars. Therefore by not employing these children they will benefit from getting into unwanted troubles. * The Corporates rather than encouraging child labour, they must say no to child labour and can encourage such CSR activities which will be beneficial for their brand building activities. * Finally in the case of Government, we will encourage them to be more vigilant with regards to child labour and make the laws more stringent, so that child labour can slowly be eradicated out of the system. By doing this, they can develop the country as a whole, which will make the country socially and economically more strong, and reduce the disparities between the rich and the poor
Reasons why the target market may not participate: * Lower sections are dependent on their children to earn a living, moreover the size of family in such areas are quite big, therefore the income obtained from the children play a major role in making both ends meet * Government is overburdened with various issues in the country, moreover due to the presence of corruption, they may not be able to administer the plan properly * The employers in the Hotels and Dhabas prefer to keep small children as they can pay them less and get more work done from them, also the turnover of hotels and dhabas are not that high that they can employ people older who may demand for more wages * In the case of mining and other industries, they prefer children to do certain work or make use of them to enter places which are relatively narrow and small, where only small children can enter. They also need to pay these children less wages and these children are willing to put their life at risk. * Many of the Organizations are more interested in making profits rather than investing money in CSR activities.

MARKETING MIX
Product:
In our case the service will be creating an India free of child labor. According to the UN Study about 150 Million children of age group five to 14 are working in various industries in India. They are found working in road-side restaurants, tea stalls and shops, at construction sites and in factories. Girls suffer labour exploitation to such a degree that millions of girls die before they reach the age of 15. They are paid a pittance as low as Rs.20 per day and many live in shops or work places where they are subjected to various forms of exploitation.
The Indian government ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992 and introduced various pieces of legislation to curb child labour. The Labour Ministry of India has imposed a ban on children under age 14 from working as domestic help in hotels. Under this law any employment of children under 14 will invite imprisonment up to two years and a fine of Rupees twenty thousand. India has also banned employment of children in hazardous industries including the manufacture of fire crackers, carpet making, glass making etc. under Child Labour Act 2002
Although India has the second largest child population in the world, there is no single unified separate legislation to deal with all the offences against children.

Price: * Child Labor directly affects the future of the country, destroying the capabilities of the youths in India, depriving them on perusing their dreams of being professionals such as architects, doctors, entrepreneurs, and even being a sports player * Child Labor also exposes children to physical and mental hazards endangering their lives. This in turn affects their life morally. It makes the child develop mentally fast, which is a dangerous sign for youths. This can lead them to becoming gangsters and bad people of the society * A child worker becomes alienated from the rest of the family, has low self esteem, and is likely to engage in self destructive behaviour. He or she is likely to have impaired psychological development and develop anti social behaviour including lying and living with fear complex * Child Labor also creates and perpetuates poverty because the earnings are not substantial to sustain or be used as capital for other business opportunities. * It condemns a child of good childhood, depriving him from being educated. He/she wastes valuable time being unskilled and badly paid, at times tortured as well. * As the children are deprived from education they will not know their actual worth, which can lead to lesser wages being paid and also increase the disparity in the society.

Promotion:
We will be mainly using the pull strategy for promoting our cause. For doing this we will mainly make use of a combination of Emotional and Moral appeal in our campaigns and several pictorial representations. Combinations of these two are being used as it will be powerful tool to make the target market realize what they are doing and bring about a change in their behavior. The various mediums which we will be using to promote are: * Advertisements in print media, mainly in the regional news papers * Electronic media, i.e the internet, where in we will be active in many of the social networking sites, the TV and the radio. We will also be having a website of our own where people can tell us their problems, have a two way communication, etc * Wall paintings in the rural areas and posters and hoardings in urban areas * Providing monetary and non monetary incentives to the children or their parents for working towards this cause
Therefore to communicate this to our various stakeholders we have come up with a communication plan.

COMMUNICATION PLAN
Since our target market is divided into various segments, we will be creating different Communication Plans for each one of them. We have not only segmented the market as per the location but micro-segmented them looking into various influencing factors in accordance to our campaign. The same can be is shown below in the chart.

Now, as per the Micro-Segmentation, we will be clubbing people with similar economic and social status to make an effecting communication plan, which is as follows: * The Slums in the metropolitan cities will have the same communication plan as the Rural and poor people in other areas. * The urban households and employers of hotels/dhabas, having the same intention of getting cheap labor will be clubbed with Owner of factories/Mines. * The state governments of all the areas will be communicated separately about the exploitations and wrongs being done and how the government can play an effective role in improving the scenario. * Corporate, which forms one of the most educated class of the society, will be told, including the loss on economic aspects, as to how can they be a part of the noble cause. * Lastly, the Regional NGOs, with whom we will be collaborating to get the maximum impact as well as credibility, will also be taught about the condition, need and urgency of the issue and the harm it is causing to our country.

The communication plan will include the following: * Slums: * Posters/ Pictorial campaigns: * Graphical Representation of what their children do at the mines/factories and how hazardous it is to be there * Harms that are caused in the long-term both in health as well as their living style due to illiteracy and unbalanced growth * We will be showing images of the consequences of not abiding by the law, such as imprisonment * What will happen if they are not sent to work as such tender age but given what they deserve, i.e., admission to school, time to play and grow with children of their age. (Showing pictures of Doctors, engineers, corporate, etc.) * Nukkad Naatak in collaboration with the Regional NGOs more familiar with the areas, living style of the people in that area, and preference of regional language * One-to-one counselling of people in Contemplator (Awake), Preparation (Active) segment * Workshops will be held for small gatherings, making them aware of the issue, the pros and cons of the issue,etc

* Urban households, Employers of Dhabas/Hotels, Owners of factories/mines: * One-to-one conversation will be a major way of engaging people in this section. These are people which cannot be easily clubbed at one place since they belong to different locations * Pictorial representations of the consequences of not abiding by the law, such as imprisonment * Advertisements on various mediums such as electronic, print,etc having slogans and pictures encouraging them to abolish child labour * 15 minutes workshops in the evening in parks/get-together spots within societies, and market places in the posh areas targeting households, preferably in the evening hours * Engagement with and via the associations of factory owner and market associations where the dhabas/hotels are operating. This will help us in engaging more people by using the credibility of the association which is their guiding body * Central/ State Governments * We will be communicating with the Ministry of Women and Child Development through several meetings, requesting them to have more stringent, rules and regulations with regards to child labour. Also to have a separate child grievance cell where various issues can be resolved * Giving a proposal to the government, to provide the children or their parents with some sort of monetary or non monetary benefits * Corporate * Use of the most-talked-about Social Media will be a good thing in this area. LinkedIn, which is certainly the richest base of engaging with the corporate of the highest order, will be used to get in touch with the corporate of top-notch companies/groups * We will be giving them a framework to include this in their CSR activities * Workshops and presentations for the adoption of Ethical behaviour and not engaging in such activities will be asked for, from these people

Place:
As the target market is scattered throughout the country, the places that we will be mainly covering are as follows: * Metropolitan cities: Delhi and Mumbai * Surat, Gujarat * Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu * Jharkhand * Chhattisgarh

People:
This refers people who will be helping in implementing this campaign or plan, it includes the management of the NGO’s, the volunteers, people in the Regional NGO’s and the Social activists who are ready to help. The people made use of in the various campaigns will be selected such that they are appropriate and the target market is able to connect with them. We will not only be training them for this purpose but will also make sure that they can positively influence the target market.

Process:
As our target market is scattered, it is important that we have a very structured way of doing things. We will be providing the consumers with a number, email id or address to contact us. Utmost privacy will be maintained from our end. The representatives must be able to take the required actions as soon as possible. Once the campaign starts we will be having timely reviews from the volunteers, from the target market, etc to see if we are going in the right direction and take the necessary actions.

Physical evidence:
We will be providing the customers with details of all the work we have done till now, the changes that we have been able to bring about. Also while conducting several workshops we will be creating an ambience which will help us in winning our customers trust.

BUDGET

We have divided the given budget of Rs. 50 lakhs in the following manner. This split is for the Financial year 2012. Description/Activity | Rupees | % of Budget | Salaries of Employees(5 Permanent) | 11lakhs | 22% | Training Costs | 2 lakhs | 4% | Transportation costs | 8 lakhs | 16% | Advertising & Promotion Costs | | | Posters/Hoardings | 3 lakhs | 6% | TV Advertisements | 8 lakhs | 16% | Radio Advertisements | 2 lakhs | 4% | Workshops | 2 lakhs | 4% | Incentives | 4 lakhs | 8% | Printing costs | 5 lakhs | 10% | Miscellaneous Expenses | 5 lakhs | 10% | Total expenses | 50 lakhs | |

IMPLEMENTATION & CONTROL
Our Implementation process will be preplanned, all our activities will be spread over a period of time and will be made mandatory for our employees and volunteers to stick to their time schedule. For example, we will be covering a particular locality of an urban area in a week.
Implementation
Action | Date | People Responsible | Briefing of campaign | 1st Feb-5th Feb | Heads of the team | 1st workshop in every area | 15th Feb | Regional Volunteers | Posters & Hoardings in Urban Areas | Feb end | Volunteers |

The above table is an example of how we will be carrying out the implementation process.
Control
We will be using the following standards for control: * Having a check on the donations * Sponsorships for children’s education * Feedback from the people, if they want to us do something more for them, or change our way of working, etc * The increase in the number of children enrolled for education in government schools * Reduction in children employees in factories, hotels, dhabas, mines, household, etc * Number of complaints registered against child labour
Therefore we will be reviewing every 6 months to see if there has been a change in behavior, awareness among the people which can be determined by the above standards. This will be done by comparing the previous records with present records and seeing the change. Based on the change if it is positive or negative actions will be taken.

References * Anker, Richard, Sandhya Barge et al. (1998). Economics of Child Labour in Hazardous Industries in India. Baroda: Centre for Operations Research and Training. * Bhatty, K. (1998). ‘Educational Deprivation in India: A Survey of Field
Investigation’. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 33, No 27: 1731-
40 and No 28: 1858-69. * Burra, N. (1995). Born to Work: Child Labour in India. Delhi: Oxford
University Press * Ramachandran, Nira and Lionel Massun, eds. (2002). Coming to Grips with Rural Child Work. A Food Security Approach. New Delhi:
Institute for Human Development * Weiner, Myron (1991). The Child and the State in India. Delhi: Oxford
University Press.

References: * Anker, Richard, Sandhya Barge et al. (1998). Economics of Child Labour in Hazardous Industries in India * Bhatty, K. (1998). ‘Educational Deprivation in India: A Survey of Field Investigation’ * Burra, N. (1995). Born to Work: Child Labour in India. Delhi: Oxford University Press * Ramachandran, Nira and Lionel Massun, eds. (2002). Coming to Grips with Rural Child Work Institute for Human Development * Weiner, Myron (1991)