Report by Santanu Ganguly, New Delhi: Pravah and CYC’s Change Looms Learning and Leadership Journey is a program that supports young people who have started their own social initiatives. During the course of the year-long journey, we help to strengthen these initiatives through collective and individual learning opportunities, mentoring and financial support. In the last 6 years, we have supported over 125 youth-led organizations and individual change leaders and are currently working with 21 teams.
On June 14, 22 young change leaders from 17 teams across the country were felicitated for completing the change looms learning and leadership journey. They shared their experiences of initiating social change, the motivation that drove them to walk this path, the challenges they faced and the impact of their work.
As the keynote speaker, Amitabh Behar, Executive Director of National Foundation for India set the context for the evening and talked about the critical role that youth play in Civil Society by providing alternatives to the status quo.
Young leaders spoke about the internal conflicts and debates that drive them to address social conflicts. For example, the frustration and futility that Hejang experienced when he witnessed the ethnic violence in Manipur spurred him to start InSIDE NE – an initiative that seeks to build peace and provides young people an alternative path to the violence.
Ironically, several young leaders said that the challenge of being able to explain to parents the choice of setting up their own social initiative instead of opting for a conventional career was often more daunting than the challenges they faced in the community.
Speaking of the impact of her work, Gitanjali Babbar whose organization, Kat-Katha works with children of sex-workers in GB Road, said that initially the children had suffered from low self-esteem and were ashamed of being labeled as children of sex-workers. However, thanks to Kat-katha’s learning centre, today they are confident do not feel the need to hide their identity.
The event was co-hosted by Pravah, CYC and Vishwa Yuvak Kendra. It was supported by the Sir Ratan Tata Trust
Dialogue with Social sector leaders
As part of the Change Looms program, Pravah and Commutiny – the Youth Collective (CYC) facilitated a dialogue on June 14, 2013 between the young change leaders from 15 different states and representatives of UN and other development agencies, including UNFPA, UNICEF, UNV, NFI, Oxfam India, IGSSS, Unnati Foundation, Action Aid and The Sir Ratan Tata Trust.
The invitees engaged in a dialogue with the young leaders and told them about the youth work they do and their experiences of supporting youth led organizations. They also shared insights on how youth led organizations can access resources for their initiatives . Indu Prakash from IGSSS said that donors need to understand the true impact of the work on the ground rather than focus on result-based frameworks. The young leaders shared their work and its impact with the invitees through a visual display they had put up for this purpose.
Change Looms Learning and Leadership Journey (CL-LLJ) is a year long fellowship in collaboration with Pravah to support young social entrepreneurs who wish to create and nurture 5th Spaces within their organizations and movements.
CL-LLJ supports, encourages and recognises young people who have started, and are running independent social initiatives. It provides skill and capacity building, mentoring support, financial support and networking opportunities. Every year, 25 social entrepreneurs learn together through a Chai, Charcha and Change process that involve workshops, learning experiences, one on one mentoring and peer connections.
The focus of the program is on learning and development, specifically in the following areas: a) Systems thinking and organizational development, b) Team building, c) Perspectives on youth development, d) Instructional design and facilitation and e) Deep self-awareness. Program also ensures sustainability of this journey by inspiring these young leaders to set up and facilitate more 5th spaces with the youth participants of their initiatives.
Since 2005, CYC and Pravah have engaged with over 100 start ups and are currently working with 24 youth-led initiatives from across India. While CYC navigators guide the journey, it is sought to be co-led by a crew of 5-8 members selected from within and by the group itself. Leadership challenges thrown up by this experience serve as a major learning opportunity.
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| Change Looms Young's Club |
As the keynote speaker, Amitabh Behar, Executive Director of National Foundation for India set the context for the evening and talked about the critical role that youth play in Civil Society by providing alternatives to the status quo.
Young leaders spoke about the internal conflicts and debates that drive them to address social conflicts. For example, the frustration and futility that Hejang experienced when he witnessed the ethnic violence in Manipur spurred him to start InSIDE NE – an initiative that seeks to build peace and provides young people an alternative path to the violence.
Ironically, several young leaders said that the challenge of being able to explain to parents the choice of setting up their own social initiative instead of opting for a conventional career was often more daunting than the challenges they faced in the community.
Speaking of the impact of her work, Gitanjali Babbar whose organization, Kat-Katha works with children of sex-workers in GB Road, said that initially the children had suffered from low self-esteem and were ashamed of being labeled as children of sex-workers. However, thanks to Kat-katha’s learning centre, today they are confident do not feel the need to hide their identity.
The event was co-hosted by Pravah, CYC and Vishwa Yuvak Kendra. It was supported by the Sir Ratan Tata Trust
Dialogue with Social sector leaders
As part of the Change Looms program, Pravah and Commutiny – the Youth Collective (CYC) facilitated a dialogue on June 14, 2013 between the young change leaders from 15 different states and representatives of UN and other development agencies, including UNFPA, UNICEF, UNV, NFI, Oxfam India, IGSSS, Unnati Foundation, Action Aid and The Sir Ratan Tata Trust.
The invitees engaged in a dialogue with the young leaders and told them about the youth work they do and their experiences of supporting youth led organizations. They also shared insights on how youth led organizations can access resources for their initiatives . Indu Prakash from IGSSS said that donors need to understand the true impact of the work on the ground rather than focus on result-based frameworks. The young leaders shared their work and its impact with the invitees through a visual display they had put up for this purpose.
Change Looms Learning and Leadership Journey (CL-LLJ) is a year long fellowship in collaboration with Pravah to support young social entrepreneurs who wish to create and nurture 5th Spaces within their organizations and movements.
CL-LLJ supports, encourages and recognises young people who have started, and are running independent social initiatives. It provides skill and capacity building, mentoring support, financial support and networking opportunities. Every year, 25 social entrepreneurs learn together through a Chai, Charcha and Change process that involve workshops, learning experiences, one on one mentoring and peer connections.
The focus of the program is on learning and development, specifically in the following areas: a) Systems thinking and organizational development, b) Team building, c) Perspectives on youth development, d) Instructional design and facilitation and e) Deep self-awareness. Program also ensures sustainability of this journey by inspiring these young leaders to set up and facilitate more 5th spaces with the youth participants of their initiatives.
Since 2005, CYC and Pravah have engaged with over 100 start ups and are currently working with 24 youth-led initiatives from across India. While CYC navigators guide the journey, it is sought to be co-led by a crew of 5-8 members selected from within and by the group itself. Leadership challenges thrown up by this experience serve as a major learning opportunity.
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