Shalini ChaturvediShalini Chaturvedi

Sahbhagi Shikshan Kendra, Sahbhagi Shikshan Kendra, LucknowLucknow

India with population of over 1.2 billion is second most

populace country in the world. India has the largest youth population in the world;

around 66% of total population is below the age of 35. Nearly 40%of the Indian population is aged 13 to 35

years ( as defined youth in National Youth Policy). In recently held national elections total 290 million

voters were aged below 30 i.e. 35% of total eligible voter.

hence there is need to build more supportive environment for youth active citizenship. So that youth can actively work for social justice, human rights, democracy and transformation.

Country Perspective- demographic details

Voice of Youth overlooked Platforms for purposeful engagement of youth missing Lack of negotiation skills- skills to influence process

and decisions in governance Employability- struggle to come in mainstream but

further pushed into informal sector Lack of recognition and direction for better future Distress and uninformed migration to urban centers Status of being just literate or semi literate makes

them more vulnerable For young girls status of being illiterate and just

literate enhances their chances of exploitation leading to violence.

Key issues of youth towards inclusive citizenship (experiences from

engagement with SC/ Muslim and migrant youths)

National Youth Policy- guiding document for youth

development Nehru Yuva Kendra- organization building cadre of

Youth Volunteers and leaders for social change National skill development mission- for promoting

entrepreneurship amongst youths

Policies to ensure inclusion of youths

SSK is an organization working on empowering

section of society which is socially and economically backward in development process by promoting their participation in governance.

Inclusion, mainstreaming and skill building of youths – main mandate of organization.

Organization is carrying out field actions on various themes – Migration, Disaster Management, Education with due focus on life long learning process, promoting community leadership and strengthening of governance process in state of Uttar Pradesh.

Initiatives of Sahbhagi Shikshan Kendra (SSK) towards- Youth Leadership and inclusion

SSK particularly operates in state of Uttar

Pradesh covering eastern, central and western regions of province.

Works with youths of excluded community especially SC/ Muslim and Migrant youths.

Uttar Pradesh one of the most populace state of India has alarming indicators related to youth-

66th round of the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) report puts the projection of unemployed youth in Uttar Pradesh in the age group of 15-35 at whopping 1 crore by the end of the ongoing 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17)

Hence this brings in utmost need for planned and strategic intervention towards inclusion of youths

CONT……….

Organizational strategy is based on 3 aspects which is skill

development, leadership and building youth cadres- a package which leads to mainstreaming of youth to lead development process as an aware citizen.

Strategies for promoting youth inclusions

Glimpses of Youth Engagement

Orientations/ Counseling sessions

Leadership development workshops

Legal Literacy sessions

Campaigns Vocational Trainings

Opportunities for inclusive citizenship

Community level change agents-Youth cadres-

volunteers, groups and leaders – initiate process of social harmony, social security and develop a equitable society

Influencing governance - participation in election as an aware voter, eligible candidate, promote practice of organizing community level mass meetings

Working as pressure groups- demanding citizen’s rights Accountability and transparency- forming vigilance

groups to monitor development process of their area Community level initiative- Monitoring of services-

health, education, PDS Advocacy- by putting up demands before stakeholders Entrepreneurship- revival of cottage industries

Role of Youth