Global Handwashing Day celebrated by 150 municipal school students on 15 October

3.7 Million. That is a HUGE number indeed. 

No,it is not the bank balance of a millionaire OR the budget of a company or institute BUT is sadly the number of children aged from one month to 4 years who DIED globally in 2013, due to bad hygiene practices.

Students wash their hands with soap

 Imagine, millions of lives can have been saved by adopting small sanitation and cleanliness measures. In developing countries, child mortality rates related to respiratory and diarrheal diseases can be reduced by introducing simple behavioural changes. This simple and seemingly trivial action "HWWS- Hand washing with soap" can reduce the rate of mortality from these diseases by almost 50 per cent.

With the goal of spreading awareness about the importance of this low cost and easy intervention in mind, WHO (World Health Organisation) designated October 15th as the Global Hand Washing Day in 2008. For the last 9 years, different organisations worldwide have been celebrating it by planning unique programs. 

How did we at CACR celebrate? - View this 30-second video to get the gist

NGO Citizens Association for Child Rights(CACR), organised an activity based programme at Nityanand Municipal School, Andheri East , Mumbai.

Students participate in Q&A

I am very happy to share that more than 150 children participated very enthusiastically in The Global Hand Washing day celebrations and communicated their hand wash messages via painting bed sheets and singing the hand wash songs popularised by Sachin Tendulkar. 


There was a discussion followed by a Q and A session with UNICEF consultant Bharathy and Former Deputy Education officer Manasi Apte. Soaps and pamphlets with the correct hand washing steps and the importance of making washing of hands with soap a habit were provided to all the participating children. 

CACR has been implementing the hand wash behaviour change program in 11 MCGM schools with 683 students for the past 2 months. This project is a behavioural change program aimed at students from class 3 to 8.
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Students painting their handwash messages on a bedsheet

Bharathy Tahiliani, State consultant UNICEF India said "The 12-week programme, is implemented for the first time in Urban India. We are providing close guidance to CACR to put in place behaviour change activities so children can adopt appropriate hygiene and sanitation behaviour for a lifetime" 

CACR Founder Director Mr Nitin Wadhwani shared that "NGO CACR has initiated this important programme in 5 locations from Andheri to Bandra and it also comprises of a 3 Star Assessment of School Infrastructure on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene based on Swachh Bharat Swachh Vidyalaya (Clean India Mission) guidelines"

A Marathi newspaper Janashakti carried the details of the OCT 15 event as seen below 

Global Handwashing Day event published in a Marathi Daily

PPH website featured CACR

The Global Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing, which is a coalition of international stakeholders who work explicitly to promote handwashing with soap and recognise hygiene as a pillar of international development and public health featured CACR on its website 

As Seen HERE on the RHS image 

I sincerely hope to keep the GHD momentum going by scaling up this project to more schools and new locations. But I need your good wishes and volunteers to make this happen. If this project interests you then volunteers with us  http://www.ngocacr.com/be-a-volunteer/ 

Hope you join us to make lives healthy. 

By +Richa Singh  loves to work in the public health space and  is the Projects Director with CACR, a section 8 nonprofit working in public schools in Mumbai from past 3 years.

Edited by +Vidya Vaidya , Artist & Director, CACR

Coloring Mumbai Railway Stations: From Boring to Beautiful

BMC school students at Santacruz East station with CACR 

Art is something that brings a smile on my face and a pleasant sigh making me feel “Today is going to be a great day!” So, imagine my happiness when every step I took at the railway station I found a painting; especially when a Van Gogh’s “Starry Nights” played right in to my vision. I was standing there for a few minutes just looking at it, giddy with happiness hoping to stop everyone and say “This is a Van Gogh, even though it is not the original.”  

As kids, we loved doodling; on our walls and in our notebook. Unfortunately the wall thing was banned both by school and parents as it was a risk to their sanity. But giving it an outlet through decorating your railway station is an exciting idea. It kills two birds with one stone; one’s fantasy of painting on walls, with the added benefit of beautifying one’s stations.

Mumbai First and Making A Difference (M.A.D) initiative in collaboration with the Western and Central Railways came up with the Beautification programme, called ‘Hamara Station Hamari Shaan’ as part of a Nationwide voluntary initiative called Daan Utsav, executed from 2nd to 8^th October 2016.

Citizen Association for Child Rights (CACR) decided to take this opportunity to the MCGM Children too, giving them a chance to explore the world of art and be a part of the Clean India movement. Not only did they get a chance to see their works on the wall being viewed by millions, but they also got chance to be meet other artists and support PM Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat dream.

CACR members Vidya Vaidya and Ar Deyasini Choudhury supervised the entire project. MCGM school students from both western and central side participated in this program for a day each. There are 21 stations in western suburb and 15 stations in central suburb. A total of 164 BMC school students from seven schools helped in coloring six railway stations (two in central suburb and four in western suburbs).

In order to understand this program, I went to Santacruz East Station on 8^th October, where Ar Deyasini Choudhary and Vinita Menon of CACR and Viren Shah of MAD were coordinating the project. A total of 60 MCGM school students from Juhu and Andheri were ready to give the walls of the station ticket counter area a much needed makeover. They all were eagerly awaiting instructions with paint brushes in one hand and paint in other. While some were painting the trains, others were painting flowers, butterflies, leaves and grass.

At Mulund

At Vile Parle

At Bandra

A few students from NMIMS Mukesh Patel School of Technology – Vidhi Shethi, Daanish Gandhi and Vinay had also volunteered their help. Our graduates and under graduates have realised that to make a change, we have to be a part of the change and participate in such programs, stating “Where there is a will there is a way”.

CACR volunteers from NMIMS-MPET

Along the way I also met Allwyn Pereira, the R N Podar School Art Teacher with some of his student volunteers painting on the walls of the foot over bridges(FOB). It is great to have teachers going beyond the four walls and supporting such initiatives.

I also met the artist of Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’, Snehal Patil (an independent artist) who had beautified the outer walls of Station Master’s cabin, the Ticket Window and the FOBs.

Art is really underappreciated in our country, in spite of our vibrant cultural history and our living arts. So through this program, we are providing a medium to both art and artist to showcase their potential to the world, especially in a locale where the commuter otherwise would not have the time to go beyond his/her daily routine to view art.

Also, art plays a very big role in a city’s holistic development. A “smart city” that we talk about so much should have both art and technology going hand in hand.

It is also important for children to participate in such initiatives from an early age to respect public spaces, to understand the concept of ‘giving back’- especially for MCGM School children, who have very few avenues of participating in such events, giving them a sense of belonging and help inculcate in them a sound civic sense, of responsibility, and the most important the joy of creating beauty!

From tomorrow onwards, the people of Mumbai will have something exciting and interesting to see on the platforms, FOBs and ticket windows daily, rather than the dark and dirty drudgery they are accustomed to.

It just depends on how many are willing to pause for a second and appreciate these efforts.



Visit www.ngocacr.com to know more.