India’s cultural/social/political climate is incredibly complex. Some key factors:

India’s gender ratio is distorted, with most recent Census data revealing there are 37 million more men than women currently living in the country.

Violent crime in India rose nearly 19 percent from 2007-2011, and kidnapping of women increased 74 percent during that time period.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, an estimated 100 rapes occur every day in India. Heinous, violent crimes. Vicious gang assaults. Violence against young girls. Marital rape. And the number steadily escalates.

But many sexual assaults go unreported, and ultimately unpunished, as women fear backlash, shaming and social ostracism – from neighbors, police and even their own families. The culture of suppression is deep-rooted and widespread. More than 30,000 rape victims in India are awaiting justice.

So it was clear that something needed to be done to change the police and justice system.

Our training sessions educated police officers about the important role they play in ensuring that victims of sexual violence have a safe haven where they can report crimes, where they’re treated with respect and compassion.

Next, we needed to engage consumers directly, to ensure women could feel confident that their allegations would be aggressively actioned upon and their assailants vigorously pursued. To do so, we:

-Secured India’s first-ever prime-time documentary simulcast across a major entertainment network in 8 languages – a bold step for the network. This screening was timed to the three-year anniversary of the brutal gang rape around which the film centers.

-Created short film vignettes/PSAs which screened in Mumbai movie theaters over 90 days.

-Conducted strategic media relations and social media outreach.

More than 150,000 police officers screened Daughters of Mother India as part of their ongoing training – the first time in the nation’s history a documentary has been incorporated into officer instruction. Workshops and dialogue sessions followed.

The film is now mandatory for National Police Academy recruits.

Media coverage from Hindustan Times to Huffington Post cited the strategic approach as groundbreaking. (82 placements.)

Importantly, police are seeing increased willingness among women to report sexual violence – even in states like Haryana where gender ratios are most distorted and sex crimes, rampant. Early estimates show a 20% increase in reported sex crimes.

The film was simulcast on a major network during prime-time in 8 languages – also a first – reaching 10million people.

Short-form PSAs aired in theaters, reaching ~9million consumers.

Social media engagement topped 31million impressions.

What started as a documentary became a powerful vehicle for change.

Victims of rape are often abused twice. First by the rapist, then by the police.

So when launching the documentary Daughters of Mother India we first framed it fit the primary stakeholder: the nation’s police officers.

We reached out to local police chiefs, and through their support we arranged the nation’s first screenings for police departments across India.

And we followed up with intensive workshops and dialogue sessions.

Rare – and critically important – partnerships between local administrators,

Sarpanch, and police were formed. To date, 150,000 police officers have been trained in Bangalore, Delhi, Guragaon, Haryana, Hydeerabad, Kolkata and Mumbai. Additional screenings are ongoing.

Next we engaged consumers directly to ensure they understood police officers’ commitment to aggressively—and respectfully – investigate sex crimes

Finding solutions is easy. Finding the right problem is hard. In particular when it comes to the fight against sexual violence.

Because all of us are already in agreement about what’s right and wrong. The challenge is instead to find facets of the system that can be changed to make a real difference.

So we did.

We were asked to introduce a new documentary film, Daughters of Mother India, a powerful film about the aftermath of the horrific rape and murder of a 23 year-old medical student, and the nation’s struggles to eliminate rampant gender violence.

And rather than just engage consumers, we first sought an unexpected audience – police officers.

Objectives

To gender sensitize India’s police force, and educate officers – who come from within this society in which women are not respected – about the intensity of these crimes and the importance of sensitivity towards victims.

To drive meaningful conversation.

And ultimately, to increase reporting of sex crimes.