International Youth Day 2020

Every year PRIA Youth utilises the occasion of International Youth Day to provide safe spaces for young people to converse and put forward their opinions and views on issues concerning them through a range of events. This year was no different.

Keeping in mind the official theme for this year, “Youth Engagement for Global Action”, PRIA chose to highlight how Youth-n-Democracy fellows of the 2019-20 cohort have engaged with their communities at a local level. It was the perfect opportunity for fellows to share their individual and collective challenges, learning, and experiences. It also acted as a platform for the newly selected 2020-21 cohort to interact with the previous cohort, ask questions, and prepare themselves for the journey ahead. The celebration was also attended by Mr Juan Pablo of UNESCO, Ms Moxada Singh from Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives, and Ms Usha Subramaniam and Mr Rahul Khera from Hanns Seidel Foundation.

The event started with a brief introduction of PRIA Youth and the various activities that have been undertaken in the past year, including the fellowship. As the focus of the event was on peer-learning, the stage was then opened for fellows of the 2019-20 cohort, starting with Anubha and Harnoor, who teamed up to implement their Social Action Project (SAP) on the issue of male child sexual abuse. Highlighting how the fellowship helped Harnoor view social issues from different perspectives, and understand that an individual’s identity interacts with social surroundings, she says, “I learned the importance of a holistic perspective -- connecting myself with society using psychology, philosophy, and sociology”. Anubha, expanding on this, spoke about how democracy in everyday life is all about inclusion and access, which depend on a person’s social identity. She shared, “Through the fellowship, I realised that democracy could be truly practiced if we simplify the complex theories and concepts, and make them accessible for all”. The team shared their experiences of working on Male Child Sexual Assault and spoke of the challenges they faced in dealing with such a sensitive issue, especially when all interaction had to be moved online due to COVID-19. However, despite the challenges, they were able to interact with some survivors, using the skills of empathy and active listening that they learned through the fellowship.

The next presentation was made by Pooja, another YnD fellow from the 2019-20 cohort. Pooja described her journey as one of learning and introspection. She felt that the modules of the fellowship were designed to foster change at the individual level while trying to impact social change. Sharing how she has grown over the 9-months, Pooja said, “Through the fellowship, I was able to do things that I never thought I could do before. I was able to conduct online sessions, participate in webinars on mental health, & help in creating a health curriculum focusing on drug use. While trying to make a change in society, I have seen a change in myself”. Channelling her new-found confidence, Pooja organised a webinar on drug awareness where she spoke in front of 40 people which was a moment of pride for her. She was also able to use the digital advocacy skills she learnt during the fellowship to reach an audience of 900+ people on a video she prepared for International Day Against Drug Abuse.

Ahana and Kunwar made the final presentation, another pair from the 2019-20 cohort who implemented a Social Action Project on fact-checking fake news. Ahana described the fellowship as a perfect combination of academic rigour and practical hands-on work. Talking about how this experience helped her understand herself, she said, “By meeting people from so many different walks of life, I got to know more about my own identity and learnt to put across my perspective respectfully”. Adding to this, Kunwar said, “While there was always a drive within me to do something, to bring about a change in society, the YnD fellowship was the push that I needed to learn more about myself and work on issues I am passionate about”.

Mr Juan Pablo from UNESCO was then invited to share his thoughts on the work done by PRIA Youth. He reiterated the theme for this year’s International Youth Day aimed at highlighting youth engagement for global action at the local, national, and global levels, and spoke about how the word done by the fellows were excellent examples of how youth can take action at these levels. The pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing issues and brought them to the forefront -- the Social Action Projects have been useful in addressing some of these. He concluded by saying that this kind of youth engagement and commitment is what is needed in the coming years. Mr Suheil Tandon of Pro Sport Development, having been involved in supporting the 2019-20 cohort of the fellowship, further elucidated the importance of creating safe spaces for young people to come together and develop leadership skills. He echoed Mr Pablo in his keenness to see young people taking the initiative to create social change in the new normal.

Finally, Dr Rajesh Tandon, Founder-President, PRIA, commended the fellows for having used innovative methods to adapt their social action projects to the pandemic situation, and for choosing issues which are incredibly relevant in the current context. He concluded by emphasising the importance of starting with the micro, the self, and then moving to the macro, the society, and highlighted how effective this approach has been for the fellows.