Hello! We are FC Nono, a social football team in Bihar, India dedicated to empowering underprivileged children through football activities.
In collaboration with the India Office of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Yakult Danone India Private Limited (Yakult), FC Nono has joined "Achhi Aadat (Good Habits) Campaign" to educate children in Bihar, India about hygiene practices and nutrition.
The kick-off event was held in Bihar from May 26 to 27, 2023. Here we would like to introduce an overview of the Achhi Aadat Campaign project and share the activity report along with impressions from FC Nono's founder, Mr. Nozomu Hagihara.
What is “Achhi Aadat Campaign”?
About “Achhi Aadat Campaign”
The Achhi Aadat Campaign (AAC) was launched by the JICA India Office in January 2021 to raise awareness about the importance of good hygiene practices. In order to prevent the spread of new coronavirus and other infectious diseases throughout India, the campaign focuses on approaching hygiene issues from a familiar approach by providing information and practical learning about hand washing, nail cleaning, and other hygiene practices.
This project takes place as collaboration of FC Nono and Yakult to the AAC promotion conducted by JICA India. Yakult teaches the importance of nutrition and how to manage nutrition for good health, FC Nono teaches the importance of physical exercise through sports, and JICA India teaches the importance of hygiene practices such as hand washing and nail clipping, as well as these correct implementing methods.
For more information, please visit the links below!
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FC Nono's Purpose in Working with AAC
This collaborative campaign targets more than 150 children and their families in Bihar who participate in FC Nono's activities, as well as children from schools and orphanages in the area. The goal is to help the children learn how to take care of their health on a daily basis to maintain good health throughout their lives.
Improving the sanitary conditions and habits are few of the activities which FC Nono focus on. Through participating in AAC, FC Nono aims to help more children learn the importance of balanced nutritional habits and good hygiene, such as proper hand washing and nail trimming. This will lead to the maintenance of children's physical and mental health, and also the prevention of injuries in sports activities.
In addition, potential power of team sports and sport teams in developing countries lies in the ability to collectivize local people through sports and create opportunities for awareness-raising activities. Conducting awareness-raising activities in conjunction with football activities contribute to better understanding of the contents of these activities.
Through participation in this campaign, FC Nono will also contribute to creating an effective educational platform for creating an awareness to the community from importance of hygiene practices and nutritional management, as well as specific methods to implement in their daily lives.
Day of event: Practiced football before session on hygiene awareness and nutrition education
AAC Kick-off Event: 183 children attended sessions over two days!
The kick-off event was held on May 26-27th, 2023 in Bihar, Bodh Gaya, India. Participants included the head of JICA India and Japanese employees of Yakult, and also 183 children from the locality attended the event sessions to learn about hygiene daily habits!
Kick-off Event: Session Flow and Content
In this kick-off event, each session was conducted with the following flow and activities.
Session Flow
1) Explanation of the main purpose of this campaign
2) Nutrition education by a nutritional expert from Yakult
3) Lecture by JICA India staff on proper hand washing and nail clipping
4) Exercising session by FC Nono (practice menu incorporating nutrition and hygiene awareness contents)
Activities for each day
Day 1
On Day 1, a total of 95 people (50 girls and 45 boys) who are part of FC Nono, and on Day 2, a total of 88 people (10 children from an orphanage (Session 1) and 78 children from a local school (Session 2)) were taught about the importance of hygiene practices and nutrition.
Mr. Saito, Director of JICA India, explaining about the campaign
Sessions by a Yakult nutritional expert (Children studying how the organs in the body work)
Children learning how to wash their hands from JICA India staff
Sanrio Company, Ltd., well known for an animated character “Hello Kitty”, and JICA India have jointly created a hand-washing video for use in the Achhi Aadat Campaign as a tool of educational activities. In our session, we utilized this video to raise children’s awareness of the importance of hand washing.
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By using the sound sources of Hello Kitty's hand-washing video and other materials to create a menu of soccer exercises, we devised a fun way to remember and review hand-washing methods and nutritional knowledge while enjoying exercises.
Mr. Nozomu Hagihara, Founder of FC Nono, joined in the exercise with children.
Children enjoying exercises with the soundtrack of a hand washing video
Day 2
On the second day, sessions were held at the orphanage where FCNono usually practices.
Orphanage wall painted by children in collaboration with mural artist Lulu Kono in 2022
Same as Day 1, the flow of the Day 2 session was as follows.
(1) Explanation of the purpose of the campaign
(2) Nutrition education
(3) Hygiene awareness
(4) Exercising session
Greetings from Mr. Saito, Director, JICA India
On the second day, the session was held indoors.
Lecture to 78 children of a local school.
The children listen to the lecture on nutrition education with attentive eyes.
A student demonstrates a hand washing method he just learned from a JICA staff member.
knowledge acquisition: Exercise incorporating hand washing methods
At the end of the session, FC Nono had a short talk about the overview and purpose of our activities and about gender equality, one of our main activity purposes.
【Behind the scenes】FC Nono children supported the sessions as assistants
Children who participate in FC Nono's daily practice supported the two-day event as super assistants!
FC Nono children comprehending details and prepping the contents beforehand
Children supporting a Yakult nutrition expert explaining the length of their intestines
Children explain to other students how to wash their hands during a session at the orphanage on the second day.
＜Please also watch our activity report! URL：https://youtu.be/a9jLmQF4EW4＞
After the kick-off session
Thoughts on the AAC Kick-off Session
There were two things that Mr. Nozomu Hagihara, Founder of FC Nono, felt after participating in the AAC kick-off session: (1) The importance and role of sports in awareness-raising and educational activities, and (2) The importance of cooperation with the private sector and other organizations.
(1) The importance and role of sports (physical activity) in awareness-raising and educational activities
We recognized that children learned more about hygiene and nutrition through physical activity than through classroom learning. In addition, the association of children's learning with football, which they are in contact with on a regular basis, contributed greatly in promoting the children's learning; such as "washing your dirty hands after playing football - hygiene" and "taking care of your tired body after a long day of playing football - nutrition."
(2) Importance of Collaboration with Private Sector and Other Organizations
This campaign was conducted jointly with JICA India and Yakult.
Hygiene awareness and nutrition education are two areas that FC Nono had already been thinking about implementing in our team daily activities, but was not able to start. By using contents created by the above two companies, we were able to deepen the FC Nono participating children's understandings and help them acquire a more in-depth knowledge, and also focus our manpower to our area of expertise (coaching football).
Expectations and Hopes for the Future from AAC
The Achhi Aadat Campaign project is a collaboration with JICA India and Yakult. As the name Achhi Aadat (good habit) suggests, the most important thing and the ultimate goal is to make good habits a daily habit for children and their families.
We will continue to incorporate this content and learning methodology into our practices to promote the good habits among children and their communities that the team is involved with!
In Closing
Thank you very much for reading this report until the very end! Please continue your warm support both for the activities of Achhi Aadat Campaign, which is jointly promoted with JICA India and Yakult, and also for FC Nono's continuing activities to "improve social problems surrounding children in India through football".
Thank you very much for your support! Any amount of donation whether one time or monthly means a lot to us. Please hit the donate button for this cause!
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ABOUT FC Nono / FC Nonoについて 一般社団法人FC Nonoはインド・ビハール州ブッダガヤで活動する子どもたちのサッカーチームです。サッカーを通じインドの社会問題解決に取り組んでいます。最貧困家庭の子どもたち、刑務所の青年囚人、孤児たち、障害者の子どもたちにサッカー指導をしています。サッカー活動をフックとした健康管理、栄養改善、教育、人材育成、環境・衛生・保健・栄養教育などを通じ社会変革を目指して活動しています。 FC Nono is a football organization set up to solve various social problems and dedicated to social change in developing countries. As a charitable and social project, our mission is to improve inclusive living conditions of young girls/boys of BodhGaya city, Bihar State in India who are forced to live in poverty through our wide range of social activities focused on health, education and human resources development towards sustainable livelihoods. We reach out to the youths in impoverished families, prison, the disabled and street children.
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