Unlocking girls' potential through gameplay
Project
Game of Choice, Not Chance
INDIA
Challenge
In India, girls can face a culture of silence and shame around the changes they experience in adolescence. Often they are reluctant to talk with others about what they’re experiencing and become misinformed about safe practices, unaware of risks, and unprepared for the consequences of their actions. For many girls, dreams of getting an education or having a career are disrupted by early marriage and pregnancy. Girls need safe spaces where they can access the kind of information and resources they need to become better equipped to make informed decisions and chart the course of their own lives.
Innovation
Game of Choice, Not Chance™ is a brand for mobile games using play to empower the choices and voices of young people. The first game, Go Nisha Go, was co-designed with girls in India to provide an entertaining and safe space where they may explore, discover, and learn through interactive role-play in a virtual world. Within the game, girls can experience the power of their decisions, get connected to vital information and real-world resources, and become better equipped to shape their futures with confidence.
The Game of Choice, Not Chance game is the central component of a direct-to-consumer model for positively impacting girls’ lives through gaming innovation. The digital platform is a choice-based, story-driven mobile game, with in-game reproductive health information and linkages to relevant products and care, and an integrated game microsite where girls can dig deeper into topics introduced within the game.
Game of Choice, Not Chance is a response to USAID’s interest in Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Approaches to Fertility Awareness and Adolescent Reproductive Health. Howard Delafield International is implementing the youth-centered initiative implemented through a consortium that includes India-based partners, Metamersive, Vihara Innovation Network, Girl Effect, Restless Development, Jubi.ai, MullenLowe Lintas Group, and U.S-based Cycle Technologies, and NAM ER Technology.
Results
The Game of Choice, Not Chance brand and Go Nisha Go launched in late Spring 2022. Scale-up throughout India’s Hindi-speaking regions and beyond is expected through social media, government, education, and foundation partners, with leverage from the private sector collaborations.