• Half a million women and children die each year from inhaling smoke in their kitchen. The hand that feeds is choked by the hands that cook. Getting people together at different levels of government, civil society and opinion makers will be needed to make people deal with the smoke in the kitchen as a real and immediate threat. Torque works closely with global foundations and state and district administration to give the wherewithal to reach out and change the way people breathe.
• On the other hand, hardworking policemen in Mumbai need to care about their health. The elderly in an Old Age home are delighted when Japanese ladies come to sing for them.
• Japanese students leave Indian children spellbound with a performance of traditional Japanese drum. In different places across the country, Japanese women have been learning about Indian food, jewelry, festivals and yoga. Eye check-up camps keep children living in slums clear visioned. People run for marathons to support a healthier way of life.
• Taking heart check-ups outside the big metros involves getting involved with people’s concerns at community and personal levels. All of them add up to be compelling human stories.

And in each such story, Torque conceives and creates opportunities that brings people together to learn, share and hold conversations. Communication is essentially about building communities of engaged people. And Torque goes the length in helping create sustainable formats of engagement.

INDIA JAPAN INITIATIVE

The India Japan Initiative is an organization that aims at building enduring associations between the peoples, governments, businesses and cultures of India and Japan. As a non-profit organization, IJI will strives to create and nurture stronger ties between India and Japan through exchanges of views, interests and learnings at various levels.

While there are efforts being made by industry bodies, government and diplomatic channels to address these issues, IJI believes a deeper appreciation of each other’s history, culture and current affairs is imperative to carry the relationship forward into the area of economic and geo-political closeness. The process must be all–encompassing, providing an enabling environment for the people of the two countries to interact closely, leading to higher levels of comfort.

Under the guidance of the Charter Members, whose expertise, interest and desire to build lasting relationships with the Japanese will be a valuable contribution to the relations that IJI aims to strengthen, IJI undertakes multi-dimensional activities at four basic levels to achieve its goals: People-to-People; Culture-to-Culture and Business-to-Business.

Torque Communications is the operational arm of IJI. Over the past seven years, we have worked across Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, putting together experiences which share culture. We have reached out to schools and women’s associations, old age homes and colleges to create enchanting moments of cultural appreciation. Japanese women in India have learnt to dance to Bollywood beats, stretch to yoga and create delicious Indian dishes. Indian girls and women have learnt about the Japanese tea ceremony and the art of Origami and wearing the Kimono.

KILLER IN THE KITCHEN

Shell Foundation has been running The Room to Breathe IAP-Awareness Campaign in the Shimoga District of Karnataka since October 2009. This campaign has been in development since October 2008

The Campaign has been developed to run on three levels: Local, National and Global. On the Local level, it promotes Improved Cook Stoves (ICS) to IAP-affected households in Karnataka. At the state level, it works with government authorities to support grass root efforts. On the National level the campaign aims to lobby with key health and environment opinion-leaders with the aim of pushing IAP up the agenda, in turn leading to a measurable increase in resources – both financial and other – applied to tackling IAP from the Indian government.

The Chief Minister of Karnataka enthusisatically endorsed the campaign, which was the key factor to the campaign’s success. Activities in Shimoga include van campaigns, touring every village and town with a population of 2000 upwards (110 in total) and conducting extensive awareness-raising activities, focused around demonstrating ICS. Shell Foundation has also joined hands with health workers and Anganwadi workers to spread awareness about the dangers of IAP.

Torque Communications has been an enabling partner that has engaged the government and media at various levels to create a matrix of support. Working with taluk, district and state level authorities, Torque has mobilized almost one hundred workers in each Taluk to support the IAP campaign and promote the usage of improved cook stoves.

WOMEN OF CHANGE

Fostering nutrition-seeking behaviour in the Tribal belts of Odisha

In the interiors of Odisha’s Kandhamal district, a quiet nutritional shift is underway. Long-held food taboos in the community, like avoiding consumption of jackfruit during pregnancy, are giving way to science-backed health practices. In a region where over half of women and children are anaemic and local diets were often limited to rice and salt, local women are now leading conversations around nutrition, farming their own leafy vegetables, and questioning what they once accepted as fact.

Through our collaboration with Vitamin Angels India, we helped bring this transformation to light. Their Community-led Action for Nutrition (CLAN) project in three tribal villages trains ‘Poshan Maelilis,’ i.e. local women leaders who not only grow diverse crops in community gardens today but also build awareness of affordable, nutritious food options using ingredients that were always available, but rarely prioritised. The project doesn’t just deliver knowledge, it nurtures ownership and self-reliance.

We worked closely with to connect community voices and programme insights with platforms that could carry these stories forward. By creating space for lived experiences to be heard, we helped ensure that the real drivers of change, the local women themselves, took the centre stage in the story.

Project AMMA

In the hard-to-reach blocks of Bahraich district, Uttar Pradesh, frontline health workers are often the first and only source of medical guidance for expectant mothers. In a region where about 60% of non-pregnant women and more than half of pregnant women are anaemic, even routine pregnancy care becomes a high-stakes challenge. Project AMMA (Anemia-Mukt Mothers and Adolescent Girls), launched under the Anemia Mukt Bharat initiative, aims to address this crisis by equipping health workers with better screening tools, training, and real-time data.

Led by Vitamin Angels India in partnership with the Uttar Pradesh government, the project strengthens the last mile of the public health system. It ensures timely distribution of iron and folic acid supplements, introduces mobile-based monitoring tools, and fosters continuous capacity-building. Crucially, it positions ASHAs, the community-based health workers, as the drivers of change, recognising their trust and influence within local households.

Torque Communications supported this effort by helping shape the narrative around the programme’s launch and early outcomes, enabling deeper engagement between stakeholders and those working on the ground. The focus was on ensuring that the story of maternal health was told through the people making it happen – quietly, consistently, and with impact.

Empowering the ‘Jan Andolan’ for TB-Mukt Bharat

The End TB Strategy in India rests on three core pillars—patient-centred care and prevention, bold policies and supportive systems, and intensified research and innovation—to eliminate tuberculosis by 2030. At every step, TB patients face stigma, financial strain, and isolation. Through our work with the Government of India, we’ve helped translate these pillars into clear, empathetic communications: from nationwide frameworks that stress early diagnosis and holistic support, to regional toolkits that showcase policy wins and innovative diagnostics.

The Nikshay Mitra initiative exemplifies this approach by reframing patient “adoption” as solidarity, not charity. We helped amplify this mission across geographies, languages, and lived experiences. Torque designed and led storytelling workshops for state TB teams, trained health communicators to capture authentic local narratives, and supported on-ground activations, and media engagement.

AYUSHMAN BHARAT PM-JAY: Driving universal health coverage through community engagement

A major hindrance in increasing the uptake/usage of Ayushman Bharat has been information scarcity about the scheme among the beneficiaries. Our aim was to understand this gap and then design communication and engagement activities to increase enrolment as well as usages.

As part of efforts to strengthen communication activities related to Ayushman Bharat in Uttar Pradesh led by State Agency for Comprehensive Health and Integrated Services (SACHIS), we worked towards improving public understanding of key processes under PM-JAY, such as enrolment, claims, and grievance redressal. Drawing on beneficiary queries in selected geographies, we supported the development and rollout of locally relevant communication strategies. This included working with community-based partners to enhance awareness through regional media engagement, capacity-building of local journalists, and dissemination via community radio in regional language.

Patient Support Groups are leading the fight against Lymphatic Filariasis in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar

In districts burdened by lymphatic filariasis, where stigma runs deep and awareness remains patchy, a quiet shift is underway. Across affected communities in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, patients who were once sidelined by their condition are emerging as local champions, dispelling myths and advocating for treatment. These champions are driving the critical last-mile efforts needed to reach every household.

Our collaboration with the Gates Foundation has been at the heart of this transformation. From the outset, we helped shape a narrative strategy rooted in empathy and community ownership, crafting messages that confront silence, stigma, and misinformation head-on. We’ve worked with journalists to amplify stories of resilience from patient support groups, empowering community members to become storytellers, advocates, and mobilizers during critical Mass Drug Administration (MDA) campaigns.