Abhijit Mali

Since last ten years, I have been working in the field of development communication by the means of- community radio station, mass media behavior change campaigns, entertainment-education (edutainment), social behavior change communication (SBCC) and digital storytelling. By employing user-centered approach and design thinking, I have recently developed structure and content for an artificial intelligence (AI) powered chatbot aimed at interacting with adolescents and youths about their sexual and reproductive health. In my current role at Population Foundation of India (PFI), I have been involved in a 360-degree transmedia edutainment soap opera Main Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hoon- I, a woman, can achieve anything- (MKBKSH). The series is focused on social issues around sanitation, hygiene, family planning, sexual & reproductive health & rights (SRHR) of adolescents, youths and women. My responsibilities with MKBKSH mainly involved strategizing messages, ideating markers, reviewing scripts, reviewing episodes, strategizing digital media platforms, coordinating with the production team and broadcasters among others. I have also been conducting field visits to identify and highlight positive deviant stories from the field. During my initial years, I have set-up and initiated a Community Radio Station. Working with rural & tribal communities exposed me to folklore and culture that led me to devise communication strategies to encourage community participation and community led intervention. My post-graduate study in the USA as a Fulbright Scholar broadened my horizon on the diverse use of communication in project implementation & honed my skills in developing outputs. I also got the opportunity to intern with Amnesty International, Washington D.C., where I co-led the digital outreach of their advocacy campaigns. I also worked with UNICEF as communications for development (C4D) intern to compile YouTube media content across countries to facilitate targeted interventions.