Now, Chamki and Elmo will teach kids hygiene habits

In an attempt to highlight the need for clean water and spread awareness about health and water-related hygiene, Planet Water recently launched a special education multimedia programme for children. Besides, the programme also includes setting up Aqua Towers for supplying purified drinking water.

“Planet Water aims to address the issue of water-related hygiene through its educational programme that features Galli Galli Sim Sim’s (Indian adaptation of the world renowned television programme, Sesame Street) much-loved muppets – Chamki and Elmo,” said Mark Steele, Planet Water founder and CEO. The programme, sponsored by JP Morgan, is part of the Asia Water-for-Life Project.

Here, Sesame Street’s muppets star in a DVD that reinforces the habits on how and when to wash hands along with demonstrating just how quickly germs can spread.

“It includes a series of local market public service television announcements promoting the same key messages along with a water conservation message themed – ‘Turn off the tap’. These will be broadcasted on two of India’s leading television channels, POGO and Cartoon Network, reaching approximately 11 million viewers across urban and rural India,” said Steele.

Through this programme, Planet Water will commission Aqua Towers that produce 10,000 litres of clean, safe drinking water per day, enough to support the daily water requirement of up to 1,000 people.

Through grants from JP Morgan Chase Foundation, 100 Aqua Towers have been installed across the Asia-Pacific region till now with plans to install 100 more during the next 12 months. It is also anticipated that the programme’s educational content will reach approximately 50,000 school children in its first year.

“While several initiatives have been taken up to provide clean and safe drinking water, non-uniformity still exists in the awareness levels amongst rural communities in India,” said Steele.

“The Asia Water-for-Life Project is an extremely important initiative for JP Morgan and we are delighted to continue our support for the projects with Planet Water and Sesame workshop,” said Madhav Kalyan, managing director and CEO, JP Morgan Chase Bank, India.