Watertank manufacturer Roto Tanks, Ogilvy Africa launch malnutrition project

KAJIADO, Kenya, March 4 – Water tanks manufacturer, Roto Tanks and Ogilvy Africa Friday Launched  ‘Lesso Lessons’ ,  a project seeking to combat malnutrition among children under two years of  development.

The project dubbed ‘Lesso Lessons’ aims to use traditionally patterned fabric garments – ‘lessos’ to educate young Kenyan mothers in rural areas on proper postnatal nutritional care.

It weaves the modern postnatal, nutritional guide into a traditional, everyday garment to help new and expectant mothers in rural parts of East Africa on how to raise healthier children.

Speaking of the design and concept, Yash Deb, Executive Creative Director, said, “While staying true to the traditional beauty of a lesso, we turned the postnatal nutritional textbook into a desirable and functional garment that will hopefully continue teaching for generations to come.”

Through the Lesso Lessons project, the two organizations aim to distribute over 1 million lessos in parts of Central, Eastern, North Eastern, Rift Valley, Coast, Western, Nyanza and Nairobi regions.

The team created three different Lesso Lessons; each one tackling one of three key development periods (0-6 months, 6-12 months and 12-24 months).

Heril Bangera,  President, Roto Tanks, said, “More and more, we’re starting to see how the adage of it taking ‘a village to raise a child’ is becoming more and more poignant. This initiative shows that a simple effort from a wide group, could have an effect for many generations to come.”

ikas Mehta CEO  Ogilvy Africa  added “Lesso Lessons used tradition as a means to bring about positive change. It’s an attempt to weave nutritional guidance into a Lesso, which is already woven into the cultural fabric of our societies in Africa. We are delighted to partner with Roto in bringing this to life in Kenya, and hope to see this initiative benefit more countries in the future.”

Along with input from healthcare professionals, the team adapted over 1 million data points from some of the most recent studies on postnatal nutrition during the design process to make the utility relevant to our region.