Persons with disabilities in India face numerous challenges, from inaccessible infrastructure to limited social security and employment opportunities. To mark one year of the Samarth program, YLAC and the Nipman Foundation co-authored a whitepaper titled ‘The State of Disability in India’ in partnership with Hyundai and NDTV. The whitepaper examines the current landscape and presents a Charter of Recommendations to guide policymakers, foster awareness, and build a more inclusive society. You can read the whitepaper here.
At YLAC, our collaboration with the Nipman Foundation focuses on fostering inclusivity, awareness, and accessibility — themes that resonate across all our programs and fellowships. Through initiatives like these, we wish to inspire young leaders to drive meaningful change and advocate for inclusive, accessible communities for all.
With a focus on teenagers between the ages of 13 to 18, the guide features a lesson plan that can be used to conduct workshops to engage young people in conversations about their time online and its impact on their socio-emotional well-being. You can download it here.
#FutureofTelangana with Twitter
In order to provide a holistic and open space for young people to interact with and question their future leaders, and to crowdsource a youth agenda for the Telangana Assembly Elections 2018, YLAC and Twitter India joined hands to host the #FutureofTelangana initiative in Hyderabad in November 2018.
Designed as a non-partisan and apolitical initiative, the program was attended by delegates from institutions and civil society organizations across Telangana and saw participation from leading political figures of all major political parties in the state. Details of the discussion can be accessed via the #FutureofTelangana hashtag on Twitter.
#SansadUnplugged with YKA
‘Sansad Unplugged’ is Youth Ki Awaaz (YKA) and YLAC’s attempt to create a platform for our Members of Parliament to present their Private Members’ Bills directly to young people. The goal is to lend a voice to promising proposals and help the youth know their elected representatives, beyond the cynical image painted by the media.
Since Independence, only 14 Private Members’ Bills have become law. Today, most Private Members’ Bills that are introduced in the Indian Parliament lapse without a single debate. We hope that Sansad Unplugged becomes a direct channel to engage on policy issues that matter, where MPs and young people can find common ground.
Fostering Resilience among Teens
Highly competitive student life, changing family structures and easy access to technology have significantly altered the issues that teens grapple with today. According to WHO, one in every four children in the age group of 13-15 years in India suffer from depression. 10% children do not have any close friends.
To find solutions to this problem, YLAC together with Instagram organized roundtables in Delhi and Mumbai with policymakers, mental health professionals, educators, parents and teens as attendees. The report ‘Fostering Resilience among Teens’ is an outcome of these discussions and research on best practices from around the world. It examines two key problems – mental health and bullying, and recommends institutional solutions to help resolve them.
#FindingLegitimacy with CPI
What does legitimacy of government mean to different people? And how can the relationship between a government and its citizens be strengthened? YLAC joined hands with the Centre for Public Impact (a BCG Foundation) to bring the ‘Finding Legitimacy’ project to India. This project is a global initiative by CPI to understand people’s perception of legitimacy across the world, in places such as Mexico, Canada, Brussels, Singapore and London. We were CPI’s partners for this conversation in India.
Visual storytelling can transcend and break down barriers. At the #TodayIMetIndia project in Delhi, we used photography to bring together teens from diverse backgrounds – who met as strangers but left as friends! This project was a collaboration between YLAC and Instagram in celebration of the UN’s International Day of Friendship.
#TodayIMetIndia aimed at breaking barriers of discrimination and promoting shared understanding by creating portraits which reflect and celebrate the vast cultural and religious diversity in the Indian society. Images from the project were shared widely on Instagram and Facebook, reaching millions of people worldwide, spreading the message of harmony.