WU- BTIC BREAKS TABOOS BY EMPLOYING A LEARNING LAUNCH

Challenge

Youth is exposed to sexual content via internet right in adolescence due to which their

notions about the concept of sex are twisted and they grow up to become adults who lack

actual scientific awareness of science of reproduction, laws related to reproduction and

reproductive health. WU- BTIC (an NGO based in India) wanted to start a campaign called

(Shhh’Ex Ed) the motive of which was to spread awareness about these Scientific and Legal

aspects of sex and reproduction among college students.

The big challenge was that they were not sure if the course material and keynotes of the

seminars entirely covered all the necessary content and if it was relevant to the psyche or

needs of the audience they would address. Until they had actually been upfront with college

students they could never be sure if they should be including topics like ‘Laws in favor of a

rape victim, how are laws of abortion different for those who are under 18 years of age,

whether they need a doctor’s prescription to buy a contraceptive pill’, etcetera. Another

challenge was that the Indian society stigmatizes talking about sex openly due to which the

team was not sure if colleges would really cooperate and allow them to conduct such a

seminar in their respective educational institute and they were also not sure about how

their prospective listeners (college students) would react when addressed by them.

Selection

The team chose to roll out a learning launch in the form of a webinar in order to test

whether the youth of India will take off the veil of shyness, break the chains of the stigmas

or not and the only way to be certain about the interest of youth towards this campaign was

by launching the campaign at a small level first. The prototype (the keynotes on the

presentation) was made crisp covering almost all the topics sought after, however the

sufficiency of the content still needed to be tested.  The team’s hypothesis or assumptions

about the webinar were that a minimum of 10 youngsters would join in and openly interact

with them, even if more joined they would be shy to ask questions from the panelists and

the session would last 2 hours roughly. The learning launch would also give them the

demographics of young Indians who were reactant to the initiative, they planned.

Application

The presentation was compiled to make it both logically and visually crisp keeping in mind it

will be down-streamed on digital devices like mobile phones, computer screens or tabs.

There was less text and more info-graphics making sure the prototype was factual,

functional and engrossing. Social media posters announcing the webinar were uploaded on

social media (Instagram and Facebook). WebEx (an interactive video conferencing

application from Cisco) was chosen as a medium to conduct the webinar because it has a

separate ‘chat’ tab, separate ‘question-answer’ tab, it also has both, its mobile application

and desktop application and can be accessed via simply signing-in to WebEx from Cisco’s

website. Formal e-mails were sent to colleges and universities of India inviting them to the

webinar. 4 panelists who are Medical-Science students volunteered for delivering keynotes.

The day of the webinar was a Sunday and timings were 6:00 to 8:00 pm because both

working and studying youngsters are free on Sunday evenings. Most attendees joined latest

by 6:15 pm IST.  All the participants were e-mailed a feedback form each.

Insight

The hypothesis of the team turned out to be positively different from what was marked.

30 participants joined the webinar which lasted 2.5 hours and they interacted via the ‘Chat’

section on the WebEx interface. Not only about Sex education, they asked questions in

regard to problems like Poly-cystic-ovarian-disease and endometriosis, showed their

concern on how sadly India lived with taboos related to the need of masturbation and

associated it to only male gender, how the laws of Rape favored only females. The insights

from feedback form were very helpful in the iteration of adding new modules like ‘Male and

Female reproductive systems, maintaining sperm and egg quality and life.’

Approach

The learning launch was an appropriate approach to test the viability and success of the

campaign as it not only gave insights on the sufficiency of modules and new modules to be

added but also granted the volunteers of the campaign a demographic of the youngsters or

institutes who were interested in the initiative and the concept. The learning launch lit the

green light for the campaign.


WU- BTIC BREAKS TABOOS BY EMPLOYING A LEARNING LAUNCH Challenge Youth is exposed to sexual content via internet right in adolescence due to which their notions about the concept of sex are twisted and they grow up to become adults who lack actual scientific awareness of science of reproduction , laws related to reproduction and reproductive health . WU- BTIC ( an NGO based in India ) wanted to start a campaign called ( Shhh’Ex Ed ) the motive of which was to spread awareness about these Scientific and Legal aspects of sex and reproduction among college students . The big challenge was that they were not sure if the course material and keynotes of the seminars entirely covered all the necessary content and if it was relevant to the psyche or needs of the audience they would address . Until they had actually been upfront with college students they could never be sure if they should be including topics like ‘ Laws in favor of a rape victim , how are laws of abortion different for those who are under 18 years of age , whether they need a doctor ’s prescription to buy a contraceptive pill ’ , etcetera . Another challenge was that the Indian society stigmatizes talking about sex openly due to which the team was not sure if colleges would really cooperate and allow them to conduct such a seminar in their respective educational institute and they were also not sure about how their prospective listeners ( college students ) would react when addressed by them . Selection The team chose to roll out a learning launch in the form of a webinar in order to test whether the youth of India will take off the veil of shyness , break the chains of the stigmas or not and the only way to be certain about the interest of youth towards this campaign was by launching the campaign at a small level first . The prototype ( the keynotes on the presentation ) was made crisp covering almost all the topics sought after , however the sufficiency of the content still needed to be tested . The team ’s hypothesis or assumptions about the webinar were that a minimum of 10 youngsters would join in and openly interact with them , even if more joined they would be shy to ask questions from the panelists and the session would last 2 hours roughly . The learning launch would also give them the demographics of young Indians who were reactant to the initiative , they planned . Application The presentation was compiled to make it both logically and visually crisp keeping in mind it will be down - streamed on digital devices like mobile phones , computer screens or tabs . There was less text and more info - graphics making sure the prototype was factual , functional and engrossing . Social media posters announcing the webinar were uploaded on social media ( Instagram and Facebook ) . WebEx ( an interactive video conferencing application from Cisco ) was chosen as a medium to conduct the webinar because it has a separate ‘ chat ’ tab , separate ‘ question - answer ’ tab , it also has both , its mobile application and desktop application and can be accessed via simply signing - in to WebEx from Cisco ’s website . Formal e - mails were sent to colleges and universities of India inviting them to the webinar . 4 panelists who are Medical - Science students volunteered for delivering keynotes . The day of the webinar was a Sunday and timings were 6:00 to 8:00 pm because both working and studying youngsters are free on Sunday evenings . Most attendees joined latest by 6:15 pm IST . All the participants were e - mailed a feedback form each . Insight The hypothesis of the team turned out to be positively different from what was marked . 30 participants joined the webinar which lasted 2.5 hours and they interacted via the ‘ Chat ’ section on the WebEx interface . Not only about Sex education , they asked questions in regard to problems like Poly - cystic - ovarian - disease and endometriosis , showed their concern on how sadly India lived with taboos related to the need of masturbation and associated it to only male gender , how the laws of Rape favored only females . The insights from feedback form were very helpful in the iteration of adding new modules like ‘ Male and Female reproductive systems , maintaining sperm and egg quality and life . ’ Approach The learning launch was an appropriate approach to test the viability and success of the campaign as it not only gave insights on the sufficiency of modules and new modules to be added but also granted the volunteers of the campaign a demographic of the youngsters or institutes who were interested in the initiative and the concept . The learning launch lit the green light for the campaign .