Youth in the Communities

CONNECTING WITH GENERATION NEXT: Youth Programme

Swayam places great emphasis on educating and empowering youth to become advocates for women’s rights and gender equality. YUVA is the youth programme initiated by Swayam but now functioning independently; it is entirely led by youths (girls and boys) from various colleges throughout Kolkata. Swayam builds their capacity with training on topics such as campaigning skills and how to engage with the public. Using resources from Swayam, they conduct workshops in colleges throughout the year on gender sensitisation, this in turn attracts more members to join YUVA. Along with Swayam they then host an annual gender equality mela where those trained in the colleges are invited to participate. Finally, YUVA demonstrate influence in their own communities when they lead an event called PujoHokMojar, PujoHokNirapod (Puja should be fun, Puja should be safe) for the annual Durga Puja celebrations throughout the city.

The YUVA effect

“My name is Saurabh and YUVA is like a family for me. I have learnt many things from YUVA – how to connect with people personally and then to mobilize young people by being a good speaker. Through these new skills I am able to teach others about gender equality and conduct activities and programmes for society in general. I like making friends with other youths from Kolkata and enjoy the team support.”

Swayam also works extensively in schools and colleges to deliver training on multiples topics.