Through innovative and impactful popular culture and media, Breakthrough promotes human rights in India and the United States. Leadership training, community education, and multimedia campaigns are only a few ways Breakthrough ensures that the voices of the most vulnerable communities are heard by fostering public-private partnerships that include local community groups, government agencies and the media and entertainment industry. Our goal is to cultivate a more open and democratic civil society invested in sustaining core human rights values.

THE FIRST STEP :

Breakthrough’s cutting edge and innovative outreach began in 2000 with the music album, Mann Ke Manjeree. The album, a collection of popular and folk songs, directly addresses issues of domestic violence, bringing a contentious and taboo subject into mainstream popular culture. The songs not only emphasize and highlight the problem of domestic violence, but also focus on actions for victims of violence, as sung by Shubha Mudgal. Breakthrough also made an award-winning music video on domestic violence and HIV/AIDS that reached over 100 million households in India and was translated into six international languages.

HOW DO WE BREAK THROUGH? :

After Mann Ke Manjeree, Breakthrough continued to lead the way in merging popular culture, media and social awareness and advocacy campaigns through the following initiatives :

360 Degree Multimedia Campaigns: Each campaign incorporates TV and radio spots, press ads, and mobile video vans for maximum exposure through three Indian states: Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharastra. Through these diverse mediums, Breakthrough has launched a number of successful, impactful campaigns that have reached millions of people over the past five years :

a) What Kind of a Man are You? (2004) : Breakthrough’s first full-fledged 360 degree multimedia campaign focused on encouraging dialogue on HIV/AIDS among married couples. For the first time in India, Breakthrough openly asked men to wear condoms to protect themselves and their loved ones.     b) Is this Justice? (2007) : Recognizing the intersection of domestic violence and HIV/AIDS stigma that Indian women face, Breakthrough launched its second multimedia campaign called, “Is this Justice?”. The campaign brought public attention to the growing incidence of stigma and discrimination faced by women living with HIV/AIDS—most of whom have been infected by their husbands or male partners.     c) Bell Bajao! (Ring the Bell!) (2008) : In August 2008, Breakthrough launched Bell Bajao!, a campaign to stop domestic violence. The Bell Bajao! or Ring the Bell! campaign focuses on an inclusive strategy which urges society—specifically men—to support women to live violence-free lives. We introduced India’s first blog on domestic violence through an interactive website, www.bellbajao.org. Popular Bollywood actor Boman Irani is the brand ambassador and face of the campaign.

Rights Advocates and Educational Guides The Rights Advocates program focuses on building tomorrow’s human rights leaders through hands-on education and training. Breakthrough focuses on two types of Rights Advocates:

a) Community-based groups : Working with hundreds of community-based groups, the Rights Advocates program has directly trained almost 3,000 individuals who then reached over 33,000 people. Working in six Indian states, from Karnataka to Jammu and Kashmir, community-based groups such as Networks of Positive People and Women, various universities, and livelihood and poverty alleviation organizations, amongst others.     b) College age youth : The Youth Rights Advocates program includes men and women aged 18 to 24 who complete a comprehensive year-long training program addressing issues such as sexuality, gender and HIV/AIDS, and domestic violence all through a human rights lens. Trainings provide these youth with capacity and awareness building to empower them to become leaders in their own communities.       Breakthrough has also published three educational guides that Rights Advocates use in their training. Each guide provides a human rights context for the training and includes interactive activities for maximum engagement of trainees. Extensively researched for training best practices, each activity encourages open dialogue while providing valuable information about gender, sexuality, domestic violence and HIV/AIDS for youth.   1. Jaago, Jaano, Jagaao : Peer Facilitator Guide to HIV/AIDS Awareness : A guide to implementing HIV/STI prevention peer education programs. 2. Strength in Action : An Educators’ Guide to Preventing Domestic Violence : This guide is a powerful tool to engage young people in addressing domestic violence. This comprehensive resource contains sections that provide an introduction to basic human rights principles; describe factors that contribute to violence in the home and its consequences; and, ends with prevention strategies. 3. Rights and Desire : A Facilitator’s Manual to Healthy Sexuality : This guide brings fundamental human rights values of dignity, equality, compassion and justice into the sphere of sex and sexuality. Rights and Desire invites people to explore healthy and respectful sexual practices that respect human rights through exercises, discussions and multi-media.

Breakthrough is an innovative, high impact, transnational human rights organization using the power of popular culture, leadership training and community education to transform public attitudes and advance equality, justice and dignity. Breakthrough works currently in India and the United States, the world’s two largest democracies, on several issues including violence against women, sexuality and HIV/AIDS, racial justice and immigrant rights. 

Breakthrough ensures that the voices of the most vulnerable communities are heard by fostering public-private partnerships that include local community groups, government agencies and the media and entertainment industry. Our goal is to cultivate a more open and democratic civil society invested in sustaining core human rights values. 

OUR SUPPOTERS

Foundations
	American India Foundation (AIF)
	Ministry of Women and child development
	Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs - MDG3 Fund
	Empower
	The Ford Foundation
	Global Fund for Women
	German Technical Cooperation (GTZ)
	OXFAM-NOVIB
	United Nations Development for Women (UNIFEM)
	The Unitarian Universalist Holdeen India Program
Media Partners
	Google
	JSW Foundation
	Mindshare
	Ogilvy & Mather
	T- Series
	Star TV Network
	E TV Network
	Sony
	9x
	Times now
	Zoom TV
	Network 18
	Lokmat
	Dainik Jagran
	Radio Mirchi
	Radio City
	Contest to win.com
	Zapak.com
	Views paper.com
	Blogworks
	Wave inc
	Fanticart
	Rural Relations relationship management
Non Media Partners
	CODP
	Tarikita
	Hopgirana
	Network of Positive people
	DEEDS
	Deepajyoti
	CARDTS