Navbharat Times (NBT) launched the NBT Awaaz initiative to improve citizens' quality of life by leveraging the newspaper to resolve neighbourhood issues.

The campaign reaches out to NBT readers and provides them a platform to voice civic issues in their local areas. Awaaz is a Hindi word that literally means “voice” and signifies giving people a say in demanding and driving change.

Awaaz is a month-long initiative conducted biannually. The April 2015 launch took place in three cities — Ghaziabad, Faridabad, and Noida — reaching about 2.8 million residents. During that campaign, NBT interacted with 10,000 people and received 7,100 grievances forms. The second Awaaz campaign in December 2015 resulted in a 100% increase in interactions.

During the campaign, a NBT branded canter — an open truck with a platform — travels across residential areas and markets to gather grievances through face-to-face interaction and a grievance form.

Readers also are invited to share concerns via e-mail. After conducting the canter movement and collecting e-mail input, key issues are identified and discussed at a conference, attended by decsion makers from the administrative authorities. After the conference, authorities continue discussions about the proposed changes.

A media campaign is initiated two weeks before on-the-ground interaction to ensure high turnout. Awaaz is heavily promoted with integrated media campaigns through offline and online media.

This includes editorial content, advertisements in our print newspaper and sister publications, social media campaigns (Facebook and Twitter), and through our Web site.

The scope of the campaign was increased to include Lucknow, where NBT interacted with 20,000 people and received 16,500 grievance forms. Eventually the campaign reached five million residents in the four cities.

With every edition of the campaign, NBT Awaaz has gained more traction. Local citizens are now mindful of the campaign and look forward to each edition as a medium to create meaningful change in their areas.

NavBharat Times is a thought leader and change agent in the national capital region and in Lucknow. The news outlet is known for its high-impact, hyper-local campaigns that drive change across all levels.

NBT Awaaz is one of the best examples of such campaigns, one that has enabled improved living standards for city residents. 

This campaign is aligned with NBT's core proposition of  being “a bridge to a better world," and driving progressive change that improves the quality of our cities and citizens' lives.

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