A National Youth Development Index (YDI) featuring a set of parameters to aid planning for youth will be released on Wednesday to mark the Foundation Day of the Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development (RGNIYD) at Sriperumbudur. Modelled on the Human Development Index formulated by the UNDP, it will make State-wise assessment of the status of the youth based on 11 indicators.
“The index, being brought out along with a Youth Development Report, marks the first such exercise in the country to provide tools for States to plan interventions for the youth,” C.R. Kesavan, RGNIYD vice-president told a press conference on Monday.
The YDI, which was a project undertaken with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, would facilitate planning and policy making for youth in the country where youth welfare is a State subject, said P. Michael Vetha Siromony, RGNIYD Director.
As an “observatory of social change,” the YDI database is expected to help youth programmers to use the quantitative and qualitative information to improve the process and content of delivery.
Important inputs
The YDI and youth development report would also provide important inputs to the third Youth Policy being formulated by the Centre.
The third edition of the policy is significantly different from its predecessors in that it seeks to go beyond “general statements to establish a set of monitorable indicators,” said Mr. Siromony.
The Foundation Day celebrations would also feature the launch of “Unfolding Tribal Mindset with Focus on North-East of India,” a compendium of articles presented at a workshop for young social scientists. On the occasion, the “Ilanthalir Community Radio” established at the campus would also double broadcast duration to four hours every day.
K. Kasturirangan, former ISRO chairman and Member of the Planning Commission, is scheduled to deliver the third Foundation Day lecture.
Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports M.S. Gill and Minister of State Pratik Prakashbapu Patil will also participate.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Seeking 10 New Ypulse Youth Advisory Board Members
We're excited to once again be putting out the call for new members to join the Ypulse Youth Advisory Board. After the success of bringing together our original board with a crew of new teens and twentysomethings (see all their bios here), this year we're looking to even further expand the YAB network and broaden the scope of young voices that give Ypulse Readers an authentic glimpse into youth culture today.
For the 2010/2011 term we're opening up 10 slots to youth between the ages of 13 and 24. We're looking for diversity in age, race, geography and experience, but most importantly strong opinions about youth culture that will inform and challenge the ongoing discussion around media and marketing here on Ypulse.
We offer the YAB quarterly incentives, along with, of course, the opportunity to publish on Ypulse (building a body of published work and having your photo/bio on the site), network with other advisory board members, and the potential for college or career references and recommendations. There may also be opportunities to attend conferences or other events as "press."
The board meets on a virtual platform once a month and regularly corresponds over email to discuss editorial ideas, multimedia projects and other contributions. To qualify as a full member and receive those aforementioned incentives, we ask members meet a few eligibility requirements (5 editorial and/or multimedia contributions per year-long term and a maximum of 3 missed meetings, unless there are extenuating circumstances). Nothing too unreasonable since we know most are students and/or working.
If you are between the ages of 13 and 24, apply here now. Or, if you know a great candidate (especially younger teens as we're looking to balance out the under 18s with the over 18s), please send them this post, and have them fill out this short application.
Deadline for the 2010/11 Youth Advisory Board applications is Friday, September 17 by 5 p.m. PST
http://www.ypulse.com/seeking-10-new-ypulse-youth-advisory-board-members-2
For the 2010/2011 term we're opening up 10 slots to youth between the ages of 13 and 24. We're looking for diversity in age, race, geography and experience, but most importantly strong opinions about youth culture that will inform and challenge the ongoing discussion around media and marketing here on Ypulse.
We offer the YAB quarterly incentives, along with, of course, the opportunity to publish on Ypulse (building a body of published work and having your photo/bio on the site), network with other advisory board members, and the potential for college or career references and recommendations. There may also be opportunities to attend conferences or other events as "press."
The board meets on a virtual platform once a month and regularly corresponds over email to discuss editorial ideas, multimedia projects and other contributions. To qualify as a full member and receive those aforementioned incentives, we ask members meet a few eligibility requirements (5 editorial and/or multimedia contributions per year-long term and a maximum of 3 missed meetings, unless there are extenuating circumstances). Nothing too unreasonable since we know most are students and/or working.
If you are between the ages of 13 and 24, apply here now. Or, if you know a great candidate (especially younger teens as we're looking to balance out the under 18s with the over 18s), please send them this post, and have them fill out this short application.
Deadline for the 2010/11 Youth Advisory Board applications is Friday, September 17 by 5 p.m. PST
http://www.ypulse.com/seeking-10-new-ypulse-youth-advisory-board-members-2
First set of 2,000 rural youth placed under special skills project
NIS Sparta, an educational training institution and part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG), Thursday announced the placement of 2,000 underprivileged youth from rural areas under a special, government-led project.
"The special project for the unemployed rural youth from below-the-poverty-line families aimed to equip them with employable skill-set to help them earn sustainable livelihood," the institution said in a statement.
"The project for skills development is operational in selected districts across states and is funded as special project under the Swarnajayanthi Gram Sswarozgar Yojana (SGSY) with assistance from the Government of India."
The youth have been successfully placed in sales and customer service departments in reputed Indian and multinational companies in telecom, retail, outsourcing, consumer goods and hospitality industries, the institution said.
Reliance Telecom, Nava Bharat Fertilisers, the Godrej Group, Vishal Retail, the Futures Group, Hindustan Unilever, KFC, Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Tata Teleservices, Aditya Birla and First Source are among the companies that have recruited these youth.
"We are encouraging youth from other sectors to come forward from take advantage of the employment-linked skill-based programme. This will make them independent and provide an opportunity to secure their future," said Rural Development Minister C.P. Joshi.
"The special project has been tailor made for the growing job requirement in the urban sector. We are in the process of providing training in skill up-gradation and placing candidates in the formal sector," added Rural Development Secretary B.K Sinha.
According to Goutam Roy, senior executive vice president of NIS Sparta, the institution has been given a target to train and place 24,000 rural youth in the first three years by the government.
The project, a nation-wide initiative, was launched only three months ago and is being received wholeheartedly by the unemployed rural youth across various states, officials said.
Established in 1991, NIS Sparta has provided training and consulting solutions to over one million professionals in over 550 organisations, across 10 countries and in 18 languages.
"The project for skills development is operational in selected districts across states and is funded as special project under the Swarnajayanthi Gram Sswarozgar Yojana (SGSY) with assistance from the Government of India."
The youth have been successfully placed in sales and customer service departments in reputed Indian and multinational companies in telecom, retail, outsourcing, consumer goods and hospitality industries, the institution said.
Reliance Telecom, Nava Bharat Fertilisers, the Godrej Group, Vishal Retail, the Futures Group, Hindustan Unilever, KFC, Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Tata Teleservices, Aditya Birla and First Source are among the companies that have recruited these youth.
"We are encouraging youth from other sectors to come forward from take advantage of the employment-linked skill-based programme. This will make them independent and provide an opportunity to secure their future," said Rural Development Minister C.P. Joshi.
"The special project has been tailor made for the growing job requirement in the urban sector. We are in the process of providing training in skill up-gradation and placing candidates in the formal sector," added Rural Development Secretary B.K Sinha.
According to Goutam Roy, senior executive vice president of NIS Sparta, the institution has been given a target to train and place 24,000 rural youth in the first three years by the government.
The project, a nation-wide initiative, was launched only three months ago and is being received wholeheartedly by the unemployed rural youth across various states, officials said.
Established in 1991, NIS Sparta has provided training and consulting solutions to over one million professionals in over 550 organisations, across 10 countries and in 18 languages.
--IANS
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Calling Youth's Participation: Youth Forum Empowering Youth w for Climate Actions 1-6 October 2010, Kathmandu
Background:
The Youth Forum, 1-6 October 2010, is being organized recognising the far reaching consequences of climate change in the Himalaya and to make aware young professionals in the region about how parts of these problems can be addressed though application of modern day technologies, like earth observation (EO). The Forum will serve as a platform to share and learn experiences regarding climate change issues, for which we will bring about 30 youth climate enthusiasts from the region , who will be familiarised with potential benefits of EO derived information and demonstrated relevant practical actions.
The Youth Forum is one of the key attractions of the International Symposium on 'Benefiting from Earth Observation: Bridging the Data Gap for Adaptation to Climate Change in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan Region', 4 - 6 October 2010 being organised by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain development (ICIMOD) together with the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and the GIS Development, India.
The event will provide opportunity among youths to familiarize with basic RS/GIS skills with practical hands-on sessions, demonstrate case studies related to use of EO in climate actions, internet related resources and project work to take local action in community. This initiative is being organized in the framework of SERVIR- Himalaya initiative and is supported by USAID and NASA.
Who should apply?
Young climate change enthusiasts, media persons, youth activists, development professionals etc. However you don't have to be an expert on earth observation, climate change or mountain development, but you should have familiarity with the environmental issues mountains are facing and a strong commitment to contribute towards problem solving process with the use of modern tools and approaches like EO, particularly in the context of changing climate, which has posed serious threats to mountain ecosystems.
Young professionals of 18 to 29 years of age (by September 1, 2010) and coming from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan are eligible to apply. Please use this form to apply for the youth forum. All applications will be reviewed by an international review committee. Based on the evaluation of the quality of the application by the review committee and taking into account the need for a balanced group in regard to scientific discipline, geographical background and gender, about 30 applications will be accepted for participation in the Forum. Accepted applicants will be notified by 6 September 2010.
Please note, all the accepted applicants are expected to prepare a poster (hand-made or printed or in any other forms) reflecting their understanding about mountain environment, earth observation and climate change adaptation or any other relevant topics. Further details on this will be communicated later.
In case you have any problems in accessing the application form please write to tmahat@icimod.org.
Financial support:
Participation cost (round-trip airfare, local transport, and food and accommodation in Kathmandu during the Youth Forum will be covered by ICIMOD)
Important dates and links:
Application deadline 1 September
Selection notification 6 September
Youth Forum 1-6 October
Event details: http://geoportal.icimod.org/Symposium2010/SpecialEvent.aspx
Application form: http://bit.ly/defa4g OR
https://spreadsheets2.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dC13Qjc2Z3FXU3gyel9Gb0lCYUFSNVE6MQ#gid=0
-----------------------------
India’s Youth Speaks Out Against Hunger
India has taken giant steps in the past decade, making it the largest democracy and the second fastest-growing economy in the world. Yet still today, about one-quarter of the world’s hungry population is in India. Take a look at how the young Indians are taking matters into their own hands.
In addition to maintaining the YKA blog, Tewari also contributes to the Indian bureau of the Wall Street Journal where he has participated in a debate of whether or not food security is a basic human right. Here, Tewari explained how, in principle, food security should be a basic right, but implementing an effective policy is where shortcomings occur. You see, the road to a hunger-free world is full of political, environmental, and economic obstacles preventing people from getting adequate nourishment.
Every year the WFP reaches almost 2 million beneficiaries in India, distributing more than 280,000 tons of food over the past five years. YKA is helping WFP in the fight against hunger by raising awareness through its website and attracting young, change-seeking bloggers from around the globe. These are the voices that can make our dream a reality. YouthKiAwaaz and WFP are working together to encourage millions of youth to unite, campaign, and advocate for the changes they want to see during their lifetime.
Click here to read the YouthKiAwaaz article on world hunger and its relationship with the World Food Programme.
What Youth Want: sex, violence - not mush
Shimanti Sengupta, 19, a sociology student, feels people her age get sadistic pleasure in watching break-ups and deceit on TV.
“For one, most of us feel these shows are not real and all pre-planned. It’s the same with fiction shows. When both kinds of shows have no reality, I feel it is more exciting for us to watch shows that are closer to our experiences and are slightly bitchy!” she said.
Some youngsters are hooked to these shows because their own lives are reflected in it and they even find solutions to their own problems.
“It’s all good entertainment. At times it makes us come out of our own make-belief perfect relationships and gives good ideas for checking on our partner!” said Karan Malhotra, 20.
“Due to my past experiences, I have stopped trusting girls.. So I love it when girls are caught flirting and cheating, especially in shows like ‘Emotional Atyachaar’.”
Though parents are worried about the kind of content, especially targeted at youth, channel officials say there are no takers for soft content.
“We tried showing the softer stuff to youths, but it didn’t work. Take the example of ‘Emotional Atyachaar’ - when we cut out all the dark parts, the numbers started going down,” Nikhil Gandhi, business head of youth entertainment channel UTV Bindass, told IANS.
“Emotional Atyachaar” conducts a secret fidelity test on one’s partner and captures the emotions that ensue. Unfortunately in most cases, the person in question turns out to be cheating on his or her partner.
“When we had telecast cases where there was no infidelity, no sleaze, no sex, a limited amount of violence and aggression, the audience just didn’t like it. We had three clean episodes. Youths want aggression and they want the dark side of everything, that’s what the new craze is,” he said.
Gandhi says when they choose the content for new shows, it is not a result of baseless presumption.
“The shows are outcomes of our research. When we went to colleges, we asked them : ‘which is your biggest fear in life?’ They said they fear that their partner may be cheating on them or might leave them. We took that as a hook and developed ‘Emotional Atyachaar’,” he explained.
But this changing trend in content is not confined to just the small screen, insists Aditya Swamy, senior vice president, sales and marketing, MTV India.
“Look at the films that youth are watching - ‘Love, Sex Aur Dhokha’, ‘I Hate Luv Storys’, ‘Aisha’…these are off-beat films but all about youth, their lives and things they connect to. So it isn’t as if the small screen is doing negative things for them,” said Swamy.
Such a trend on small screen especially emerged after music channels like MTV and Channel V decided to go beyond music and entered a space more adventurous, wild and engaging for the young Indian audience with shows like “Roadies”, “Splitsville” and “Dare 2 Date”.
It’s just that the shows are getting meaner and wilder!
The Third WPC-Petrotech Youth Forum
The survival of the Earth and Mankind is now dependent on judicious use of Energy. A safe and sound future with guaranteed ‘Energy Security’ is the need of the hour, for this only Blue planet to survive. The responsibility lies on us.The Petroleum Industry is the main provider of energy today. Fossil Fuels i.e. Oil, Gas, Coal are the primary sources of energy, providing over 86% in today’s world (Energy Information Administration, 2007).
Unfortunately, today the Petroleum industry stands on the cross roads with tall claims of peak oil and dwindling reserves, crude price volatility, increasing carbon footprint of the industry and technological limitations. To maintain the momentum of growth of human race, a fresh outlook complimented by new technological pursuits and energy-efficient innovations is needed.
Much of this responsibility lies in the hands of youth, who have a higher stake in the future. Future progress depends on how we channelize the vibrancy of youth. Young people bring enthusiasm, innovative unorthodox ideas and sensitivity to emerging issues. The future of our industry greatly depends on these indispensable qualities.
Experience of the veterans and vigor of the Youth must be synergized to guide the World towards a stronger and sustainable energy future. The baton has to be passed to the Youth, future leaders of the society. Enabling youth to be at the epicenter of the current as well as future energy pursuits, empowering them adequately to look beyond present energy perspective, mentoring them adequately and bringing them to the forefront to take ownership of the issues and challenges, are the steps to reach the goal.
With this view, we bring you the 3rd WPC-Petrotech Youth Forum in New Delhi on 2nd November 2010. Come, join us during the event which will bring together the present and future leaders of petroleum industry and engage them in a thoughtful discussion on the issues of the Oil & Gas Industry.
http://www.fueltheyouth.com/in/about_us/overview
Friday, August 27, 2010
The Prabha Dutt Fellowship in Journalism
The Prabha Dutt Fellowship in Journalism encourages young women who wish to investigate and research on any topic of contemporary relevance. This fellowship will be given every year. The Fellow may work on a book or monograph for subsequent publication within the given time frame. The work can be executed in Hindi, English or any Regional Language. Deadline for applications: August 31, 2010.
Objective
The purpose of the Fellowship is to encourage young mid career women journalists to develop their potential by pursuing meaningful projects without having to work under the pressures of short deadlines. The Fellowship carries a grant of Rs 1,00,000 including travel expenses. The work can be executed in Hindi, English or any Regional Language.
Eligibility
The Fellowship is only open to women who are Indian Nationals in the age group of 25 to 40. It is exclusively for print journalists.The Fellows will be required to publish a stipulated number of articles in established publications. The Fellow may work on a book or monograph for subsequent publication within the given time frame.
How to apply
Candidates should send a two – page CV and a write up of about 250 - 300 words explaining their project. Full postal and telephonic contact details together with any e-mail id should be submitted to facilitate contact. Five samples of work published. The names and contact addresses/telephones of two referees should also be sent.
The application should bear the title ‘Sanskriti - Prabha Dutt Fellowship’ on the envelope when sent by post.
For further information (including contact details), please go here and/or visit the fellowship website
Objective
The purpose of the Fellowship is to encourage young mid career women journalists to develop their potential by pursuing meaningful projects without having to work under the pressures of short deadlines. The Fellowship carries a grant of Rs 1,00,000 including travel expenses. The work can be executed in Hindi, English or any Regional Language.
Eligibility
The Fellowship is only open to women who are Indian Nationals in the age group of 25 to 40. It is exclusively for print journalists.The Fellows will be required to publish a stipulated number of articles in established publications. The Fellow may work on a book or monograph for subsequent publication within the given time frame.
How to apply
Candidates should send a two – page CV and a write up of about 250 - 300 words explaining their project. Full postal and telephonic contact details together with any e-mail id should be submitted to facilitate contact. Five samples of work published. The names and contact addresses/telephones of two referees should also be sent.
The application should bear the title ‘Sanskriti - Prabha Dutt Fellowship’ on the envelope when sent by post.
For further information (including contact details), please go here and/or visit the fellowship website
Thursday, August 26, 2010
India Today Youth Summit 2010:
So much is said about the young nation that India is - about the advantage this gives us over the rest of the world which has largely ageing populations. But our young men & women could turn around and ask: “What are you doing for us? To expose us to new ideas, to charge us with the self confidence we need to face life, to show us the road to maximum achievement?”
India Today has decided to put our effort where our heart is and so we bring you our latest venture: the India Today Youth Summit, which we hope will become an annual date to remember. The aim of this daylong event is to give young people the unique opportunity to interface with their Icons - Achievers who have struggled, overcome and today are acknowledged leaders in their fields. Come, listen to them and be inspired by them as they recount their unique experiences and give you theirMantras of Success.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/special/youthsummit/index.html
India Today has decided to put our effort where our heart is and so we bring you our latest venture: the India Today Youth Summit, which we hope will become an annual date to remember. The aim of this daylong event is to give young people the unique opportunity to interface with their Icons - Achievers who have struggled, overcome and today are acknowledged leaders in their fields. Come, listen to them and be inspired by them as they recount their unique experiences and give you theirMantras of Success.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/special/youthsummit/index.html
Monday, August 23, 2010
Youth Ki Awaaz Internships For Writers, Student journalists and Bloggers 2010
Youth Ki Awaaz (www.youthkiawaaz.com) is India’s number 1 online platform for the youth and an award winning journalism forum. We are back with our internship opportunity for students, budding journalists, writers and bloggers for a period of 2 months or more. Youth Ki Awaaz offers work from home internships to be a part of the most creative and innovative online platform and contribute to various projects and assignments, providing you with the perfect arena to voice your views and opinions.
Website: http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/
Email address: info@youthkiawaaz.co
Details:
We currently have openings for editorial internships. (new batches start from the 8th of every month). In the editorial internship, the interns get to enhance their skills of expression and observation through a process of mutual learning. The internship will give you experience in writing, editing, research, online journalism and much more. You will be assigned beats. given topics, do live coverage, interview people and much more, and hone your skills of communication, expression, editing and develop your creativity. Not only will you get a chance to be published on YouthKiAwaaz.com, you will also be provided with effective feedback on your work.
We currently have openings for editorial internships. (new batches start from the 8th of every month). In the editorial internship, the interns get to enhance their skills of expression and observation through a process of mutual learning. The internship will give you experience in writing, editing, research, online journalism and much more. You will be assigned beats. given topics, do live coverage, interview people and much more, and hone your skills of communication, expression, editing and develop your creativity. Not only will you get a chance to be published on YouthKiAwaaz.com, you will also be provided with effective feedback on your work.
Each intern will be given a letter of work experience after completion of the internship. So contribute to the ‘change’ and apply now. Please mail us your details at info@youthkiawaaz.com for the Internship brochure or fill out the handy form here.
Contact:Website: http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/
Email address: info@youthkiawaaz.co
East India youth summit: Sustainable solutions camp, Applications open
The Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN) together with ONergy and VSSU, is excited to organize a camp for youngsters in the Eastern region of India! The camp is envisioned as a venue to share ideas about sustainable practices that can be applied by every participant in their own locality/surrounding. The camp will include, among other things, workshops on sustainable energy, waste and water solutions like building solar home lighting systems; sessions on being an effective environmental journalist; theatre workshops and policy discussions. The camp also includes interesting activities like tree plantation drives and a visit to the fast receding Sunderbans.
The camp is scheduled from the 24th to 26th of September '10
The applications for this eastern summit are open and the deadline for application is August 27th. The application form can be filled here.
For more details on the summit or any specific queries, contact
Ayesha, IYCN - ayesha@iycn.in or 09821219877 or
Chaitanya, IYCN - chaitanyakumar@iycn.in or 09849016371
The camp is scheduled from the 24th to 26th of September '10
The applications for this eastern summit are open and the deadline for application is August 27th. The application form can be filled here.
For more details on the summit or any specific queries, contact
Ayesha, IYCN - ayesha@iycn.in or 09821219877 or
Chaitanya, IYCN - chaitanyakumar@iycn.in or 09849016371
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Youth Fellowships: Environmental Human Rights
Asia-Europe Training Courses are important intercultural learning instruments of non-formal education that focus on the personal and professional development of young people and on the capacity building of youth organisations in Asia and Europe. These activities aim at bringing
together the next generation of leaders, equipping them with knowledge, skills and attitudes that enables them to make meaningful contacts, address negotiations, have significant exchanges and deal in a fruitful and open way with any type of interregional issues within their efforts to
deepen the Asia-Europe co-operation one step further.
The Directorate of Youth and Sport of the Council of Europe and the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) have in common a commitment to intercultural dialogue through youth work and youth cooperation. A first cooperation activity was held at the European Youth Centre Budapest in
2009: a training course on intercultural dialogue and human rights education. After the success of that training course both partners decided to continue their cooperation and provide their respective youth partners with further opportunities to learn and work together, to exchange experience and ideas and to develop common projects and cooperation.
“Spark” Fellowship Programme for Youth
| Spark” Fellowship Programme has been launched to serve as a unique opportunity for young professionals to explore suitable opportunities to blend education / professional background with socially relevant work. Potential Fellows will be supported financially for upto one year and will receive an opportunity to work on projects in the areas of Environment/Biodiversity, Biotechnology and Education. Field work will be integrated with specially designed learning inputs and support from Domain Experts and Mentors. The fellowships will thus help to enhance one’s knowledge and skills while resulting in experiential learning and contribution to society. The Fellowship Programme is being launched by BAIF Development Research Foundation, a reputed Voluntary Organisation in India, implementing a multidisciplinary programme for over four decades in 12 states, including 28 districts of Maharashtra with special focus on Rural Livelihood, Livestock Development, Natural Resource Management, Environmental Restoration and Improved Quality of Life. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Project topics for 2010-11 are based on the following themes: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (click to see topics in respective themes) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
http://www.baif.org.in/aspx_pages/spark_fellowship_program.asp
Friday, August 20, 2010
East India youth summit: Sustainable solutions camp, Applications open
The Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN) together with ONergy and VSSU, is excited to organize a camp for youngsters in the Eastern region of India! The camp is envisioned as a venue to share ideas about sustainable practices that can be applied by every participant in their own locality/surrounding. The camp will include, among other things, workshops on sustainable energy, waste and water solutions like building solar home lighting systems; sessions on being an effective environmental journalist; theatre workshops and policy discussions. The camp also includes interesting activities like tree plantation drives and a visit to the fast receding Sunderbans.
The camp is scheduled from the 24th to 26th of September '10
The applications for this eastern summit are open and the deadline for application is August 27th.
The application form can be filled here.
For more details on the summit or any specific queries, contact
Ayesha, IYCN - ayesha@iycn.in or 09821219877 or
Chaitanya, IYCN - chaitanyakumar@iycn.in or 09849016371
The camp is scheduled from the 24th to 26th of September '10
The applications for this eastern summit are open and the deadline for application is August 27th.
The application form can be filled here.
For more details on the summit or any specific queries, contact
Ayesha, IYCN - ayesha@iycn.in or 09821219877 or
Chaitanya, IYCN - chaitanyakumar@iycn.in or 09849016371
62nd annual international Congress for youth from Aug 23 Read more: 62nd annual international Congress for youth from Aug 23
The international student community, AIESEC, will hold its 62nd annual international Congress for the youth from August 23 to September 1 in Hyderabad. This will be the second time the event will be hosted in India.
The event will have over 700 participants, mainly youth, from across the globe. Participants will meet and discuss wide-ranging global issues with a spotlight on India related topics. A host of professionals from the corporate world are expected to attend.
AIESEC is an international talent pool of 45,000 active members spread over 107 countries. Established in 1948 with the aim of fostering cultural understanding between young people from different countries, it has evolved over the years to become the world's largest student-run organization. In partnership with over 4,000 companies, governmental and non-profit organizations across the world, it offers its members leadership and international internship opportunities.
The event will have over 700 participants, mainly youth, from across the globe. Participants will meet and discuss wide-ranging global issues with a spotlight on India related topics. A host of professionals from the corporate world are expected to attend.
AIESEC is an international talent pool of 45,000 active members spread over 107 countries. Established in 1948 with the aim of fostering cultural understanding between young people from different countries, it has evolved over the years to become the world's largest student-run organization. In partnership with over 4,000 companies, governmental and non-profit organizations across the world, it offers its members leadership and international internship opportunities.
Toto Awards 2010 - Creative Writing
Toto Funds the Arts (TFA), in association with Robert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions, invites entries for its sixth annual Toto awards, from persons between the ages of 18 and 29, for writing in English in three genres: short plays, short stories and poetry. Two winners, to be decided by an eminent panel, will get a cash award of Rs 25,000 each. Entries should reach TFA by 15 October 2010. There will be no extension of the deadline.
Find more details here.
The awards are meant only for Indian nationals resident in India. You are eligible to apply if you were born on or after 1 January 1981. No exceptions will be made. Also, since the spirit of the award is to identify promising writers, please do not apply if you are already a well-known writer.
Each entry should be not more than 7,500 words. If you are submitting poems, please send 6 to 10 poems. If you are submitting short stories, their combined word length should be at least 2,500. You can, if you wish, send only a single story of 2,500 to 7,500 words. You can send entries in all three categories — poems, short stories and plays — but you must send in separate entries for each category. For example, your poems can constitute one entry, your short stories the second entry, plays a third entry. The word limit will remain 7,500 per entry.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Call for Applications : Know Your Body Know Your Rights Workshop!
'Positive Approaches to implementing Comprehensive Sexuality Education with young people'
Capacity Building Workshop, 6th to 8th September 2010, New Delhi
O
rganised by The YP Foundation and The International Planned Parenthood Federation- South Asia Regional Youth Network (IPPF SARYN) , supported by The Girls Decide Campaign.
About the workshop
An approach to addressing sexuality that considers an abstinence-only or non-comprehensive approach to providing information to empower young people to address their health and rights is in an approach that no longer works to address the growing misconceptions on sexuality and health amongst young people, restricting access to youth friendly, confidential and safe health services. Based on this premise; the workshop aims to address the following issues:
§ The workshop aims at providing young people with an overview of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) and Youth Friendly Health Services (YFHS), to empower young people working with initiatives that focus on young people's health and rights to access the skills, information and tools available.
§ Advancing young people's right to access comprehensive services and information regarding their sexuality, health and rights, particularly addressing that their sexual rights are human rights.§ Realizing and investing in Human Rights as supporting choice, respect diversity, equality and justice that are often compromised on, and not seen as a part of young people's right to health.
The workshop comprises of interactive sessions that will be conducted by peer educators from the organization as well as external professionals and partner organisations working in the fields of Gender, Sexuality, Health and Rights, with a particular emphasis on work with access to information and services, research and advocacy.
applications are due by 24th August 2010
Participants
All applicants must be between the ages of 18 and 26 years at the time of submitting their application.All applicants must have prior experience of working with YFHS or CSE for young people, either as full time or part time work or volunteer experience. Please note that this is a mandatory requirement for participation. As per mandate, 17 seats are reserved for women and girls.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation
"Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation" To Provide Financial Grants and
Mentoring to Young People for Worldwide Social Service Projects
TakingITGlobal and Pearson Foundation's Sprout e-Course Social Innovation Curriculum To Help Promote Lasting Change
TakingITGlobal and the Pearson Foundation announced the Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation, an international fellowship program that supports the most promising social service projects created by TakingITGlobal's growing online network of youth leaders. TakingITGlobal's Executive Director Jennifer Corriero presented theinitiative in her address at the closing ceremonies of the 5th World Youth Congress, held to launch the United Nations International Year of Youth.
Beginning this fall, The Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation will
recognize and support youth-developed projects created as a component of TakingITGlobal's innovative Sprout e-Course curriculum, designed to give young leaders worldwide access to training in essential skills, including team building, project management, communications, and the ability to leverage technology as they imagine, plan, and develop social innovation projects. Since its release in 2008, the Sprout e-Course has helped young people from more than 40 countries build the skills they need to develop their own social innovation projects.
Both the Fellowship and the e-Course are aligned with the main objectives ofthe World Youth Congress -- finding ways to harness the incredible talent,
energy and ingenuity of young people in their shared effort to achieve the
U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals of eradicating hunger, achieving
universal education, gender equality, reducing child mortality, improving
maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, promoting environmental sustainability, and developing global partnerships.
The Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation will be awarded to young peoplewith the most promising and well-prepared plans for community projects developed during the Sprout e-course. Two International Fellows will eachreceive $5,000 to help launch their projects. Ten additional Regional Fellows will each receive a $1,000 award. All Pearson Fellows will receiveone-on-one mentoring from experienced social innovators who will consultwith them as they implement their project plans. Integral to the program is a special online community where the Fellows can network with their peers, and have access to special online materials and training designed to help them take their projects from the planning stage to reality.
The initial phase of the e-course was developed by TakingITGlobal with a
development grant from the Pearson Foundation., Course registration is now open at http://www.sproutecourse.org to any young person who wishes to take part. In January 2011, anyone who has completed a Sprout e-course will be eligible to apply for the Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation.
"The Pearson Foundation was an early believer in TakingITGlobal," said
Corriero. "Their support for Sprout made it possible for our organization to
turn an idea into a dynamic program with the potential to cultivate young
leaders around the world. Now, the Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation has the potential to spark the same possibilities for young people everywhere."
"TakingITGlobal connects young people who share the desire to change and improve the lives of people around them," said Mark Nieker, President of the Pearson Foundation. "The Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation helps incubate similarly great ideas developed from among members of their inspiring online community. With the Pearson Fellowship for Social
Innovation and the Sprout e-course, we aim to help these young activists put their plans into action and contribute to their goal of building a better
world."
TakingITGlobal
The Sprout course exists within the framework of the TakingITGlobal social
network, an award winning online community of youth who are working for
change by addressing issues of economic opportunity, education, health,
human rights, access to technology and the environment. This "social network for social good," has over 300,000 members from literally every nation on earth. Although one third of the members are from North America, a large percentage of TakingITGlobal members are from developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Through these members and their projects, TakingITGlobal reaches millions of young people worldwide every year.
http://www.tigweb.org/
The Pearson Foundation
The Pearson Foundation extends Pearson's (NYSE: PSO) commitment to education by partnering with leading nonprofit, civic, and business organizations to provide financial, organizational, and publishing assistance across the globe. The Foundation aims to make a difference by sponsoring innovative educational programs and extending its educational expertise to help in classrooms and in local communities. More information on the Pearson Foundation can be found at www.pearsonfoundation.org.
Contact
Pearson
Rod Granger
Rod.Granger@pearson.com
(800) 745-8489
TakingITGlobal
Michael Furdyk
Co-founder, TakingITGlobal
mfurdyk@takingitglobal.org
(416) 977-9363 x313
Mentoring to Young People for Worldwide Social Service Projects
TakingITGlobal and Pearson Foundation's Sprout e-Course Social Innovation Curriculum To Help Promote Lasting Change
TakingITGlobal and the Pearson Foundation announced the Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation, an international fellowship program that supports the most promising social service projects created by TakingITGlobal's growing online network of youth leaders. TakingITGlobal's Executive Director Jennifer Corriero presented theinitiative in her address at the closing ceremonies of the 5th World Youth Congress, held to launch the United Nations International Year of Youth.
Beginning this fall, The Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation will
recognize and support youth-developed projects created as a component of TakingITGlobal's innovative Sprout e-Course curriculum, designed to give young leaders worldwide access to training in essential skills, including team building, project management, communications, and the ability to leverage technology as they imagine, plan, and develop social innovation projects. Since its release in 2008, the Sprout e-Course has helped young people from more than 40 countries build the skills they need to develop their own social innovation projects.
Both the Fellowship and the e-Course are aligned with the main objectives ofthe World Youth Congress -- finding ways to harness the incredible talent,
energy and ingenuity of young people in their shared effort to achieve the
U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals of eradicating hunger, achieving
universal education, gender equality, reducing child mortality, improving
maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, promoting environmental sustainability, and developing global partnerships.
The Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation will be awarded to young peoplewith the most promising and well-prepared plans for community projects developed during the Sprout e-course. Two International Fellows will eachreceive $5,000 to help launch their projects. Ten additional Regional Fellows will each receive a $1,000 award. All Pearson Fellows will receiveone-on-one mentoring from experienced social innovators who will consultwith them as they implement their project plans. Integral to the program is a special online community where the Fellows can network with their peers, and have access to special online materials and training designed to help them take their projects from the planning stage to reality.
The initial phase of the e-course was developed by TakingITGlobal with a
development grant from the Pearson Foundation., Course registration is now open at http://www.sproutecourse.org to any young person who wishes to take part. In January 2011, anyone who has completed a Sprout e-course will be eligible to apply for the Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation.
"The Pearson Foundation was an early believer in TakingITGlobal," said
Corriero. "Their support for Sprout made it possible for our organization to
turn an idea into a dynamic program with the potential to cultivate young
leaders around the world. Now, the Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation has the potential to spark the same possibilities for young people everywhere."
"TakingITGlobal connects young people who share the desire to change and improve the lives of people around them," said Mark Nieker, President of the Pearson Foundation. "The Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation helps incubate similarly great ideas developed from among members of their inspiring online community. With the Pearson Fellowship for Social
Innovation and the Sprout e-course, we aim to help these young activists put their plans into action and contribute to their goal of building a better
world."
TakingITGlobal
The Sprout course exists within the framework of the TakingITGlobal social
network, an award winning online community of youth who are working for
change by addressing issues of economic opportunity, education, health,
human rights, access to technology and the environment. This "social network for social good," has over 300,000 members from literally every nation on earth. Although one third of the members are from North America, a large percentage of TakingITGlobal members are from developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Through these members and their projects, TakingITGlobal reaches millions of young people worldwide every year.
http://www.tigweb.org/
The Pearson Foundation
The Pearson Foundation extends Pearson's (NYSE: PSO) commitment to education by partnering with leading nonprofit, civic, and business organizations to provide financial, organizational, and publishing assistance across the globe. The Foundation aims to make a difference by sponsoring innovative educational programs and extending its educational expertise to help in classrooms and in local communities. More information on the Pearson Foundation can be found at www.pearsonfoundation.org.
Contact
Pearson
Rod Granger
Rod.Granger@pearson.com
(800) 745-8489
TakingITGlobal
Michael Furdyk
Co-founder, TakingITGlobal
mfurdyk@takingitglobal.org
(416) 977-9363 x313
Youth in India: Situation and Needs Study
There are 315 million young people aged 10–24 years in India, representing 30 percent of the country's population. This cohort is healthier, more urbanized, and better educated than earlier generations. At the same time, these young people face significant risks related to sexual and reproductive health, and many lack the knowledge and power they need to make informed sexual and reproductive health choices. These vulnerabilities remain poorly understood and served, and it is only since the mid-1990s that researchers and policymakers have begun to investigate these issues. Even so, information on intimate partnerships among youth—female and male, married and unmarried—is sparse, and evidence is practically nonexistent that identifies the factors that protect young people’s abilities to ensure their own sexual and reproductive health and their autonomy to make informed and wanted health decisions. There is a need, therefore, to undertake a nationally or subnationally representative study of the situation and needs of young people in India.
The objectives of this project are to: (1) identify key transitions facing young people, including education and livelihood opportunities and experiences; (2) provide evidence at the state level on the magnitude and patterns of sexual and reproductive practices in and outside of marriage, and related knowledge, decisionmaking practices, and attitudes among youth; and (3) identify key factors underlying the sexual and reproductive health, knowledge, attitudes, and life choices of young people.
Access report at http://www.popcouncil.org/projects/101_YouthInIndiaNeedsStudy.asp#/Resources
The objectives of this project are to: (1) identify key transitions facing young people, including education and livelihood opportunities and experiences; (2) provide evidence at the state level on the magnitude and patterns of sexual and reproductive practices in and outside of marriage, and related knowledge, decisionmaking practices, and attitudes among youth; and (3) identify key factors underlying the sexual and reproductive health, knowledge, attitudes, and life choices of young people.
Access report at http://www.popcouncil.org/projects/101_YouthInIndiaNeedsStudy.asp#/Resources
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
62nd annual international Congress for youth from Aug 23 Read more: 62nd annual international Congress for youth from Aug 23
HYDERABAD: The international student community, AIESEC, will hold its 62nd annual international Congress for the youth from August 23 to September 1 in Hyderabad. This will be the second time the event will be hosted in India.
The event will have over 700 participants, mainly youth, from across the globe. Participants will meet and discuss wide-ranging global issues with a spotlight on India related topics. A host of professionals from the corporate world are expected to attend.
AIESEC is an international talent pool of 45,000 active members spread over 107 countries. Established in 1948 with the aim of fostering cultural understanding between young people from different countries, it has evolved over the years to become the world's largest student-run organization. In partnership with over 4,000 companies, governmental and non-profit organizations across the world, it offers its members leadership and international internship opportunities.
The event will have over 700 participants, mainly youth, from across the globe. Participants will meet and discuss wide-ranging global issues with a spotlight on India related topics. A host of professionals from the corporate world are expected to attend.
AIESEC is an international talent pool of 45,000 active members spread over 107 countries. Established in 1948 with the aim of fostering cultural understanding between young people from different countries, it has evolved over the years to become the world's largest student-run organization. In partnership with over 4,000 companies, governmental and non-profit organizations across the world, it offers its members leadership and international internship opportunities.
Monday, August 16, 2010
IIT-B's fest to promote youth as `changemakers'
In its 14th year, IIT-Bombay's annual festival, Techfest, has taken up several initiatives that promote the youth as future changemakers.
A social entrepreneurship programme called Verizon has been added to Techfest this year. Their next initiative, India Unmute Campaign. is based on the idea that youth can be instrumental in creating a better India. Suggestions can be sent to http://www.techfest.org/initiatives/india_unmute.
A social entrepreneurship programme called Verizon has been added to Techfest this year. Their next initiative, India Unmute Campaign. is based on the idea that youth can be instrumental in creating a better India. Suggestions can be sent to http://www.techfest.org/initiatives/india_unmute.
Youth Activism: Digital Natives with A Cause
Digital natives with a cause: the future of activism or slacktivism? Maesy Angelina argues that the debate is premature given the obscured understanding on youth digital activism and contends that an effort to understand this from the contextualized perspectives of the digital natives themselves is a crucial first step to make. This is the first out of a series of posts on her journey to explore new insights to understand youth digital activism through a research with The Blank Noise Project under the Hivos-CIS Digital Natives Knowledge Programme.
The last decade has witnessed an escalating interest among academics, policy makers, and other practitioners on the intersection between youth, activism, and the new media technologies, which resulted in two narratives: one of doubt and the other of hope. The ‘hope’ narrative hinges on the new plethora of avenues for activism at the young people’s disposal and the bulge of the population, stating that the contemporary forms of youth activism represent new ways of conceiving and doing activism in the present and the future (see, for example, UN DESA, 2005). The ‘doubt’ narrative, on the other hand, questions to what extent the digital activism can contribute to broader social change (Collin, 2008) and some proponents of this view even call it ‘slacktivism’, stating that online activism is only effective if accompanied with real life activism (Morozov, 2009).
Before assessing the potentials of youth’s digital activism to contribute to social change, it is imperative to first gain a comprehensive understanding about this emerging form of activism. A brief review of existing literatures on the topic found that most of the analyses are centred on three perspectives, each with its own approach, strengths, and weaknesses: the technology centered, the new social movements centered, and the youth centered perspectives.
The technology centered perspective places a great emphasis on the instrumental role of the internet and new media (see, for instance, Kassimir, 2005; Shirkey, 2007; Brooks and Hodkinson, 2008). It discusses how internet savvy young people are able to exercise their activism differently, because the technology can remove obstacles to organizing, provide a new platform for visibility and make transnational networking easier. In this perspective, internet and new media technology is seen as an enabling tool and the web is viewed as a new space to promote activism. However, this perspective mainly stipulates that there is already a formulaic form of activism that can be transferred from the actual, physical sphere to the virtual arena; it does not consider that the changes caused by the way the youth are using technologies in their daily lives may also create new meanings and forms of activism. This perspective is the most dominant in literatures on the topic, being the lens used by the pioneering studies on youth, internet, and activism.
The new social movements centered perspective goes beyond that and looks at how new meanings and forms of politics and activism are created as the result of the way people are using new media technologies and the internet. This perspective is leading the recently emerging literature on the topic and emphasizes on the trend of being concerned on issues related to everyday democracy and the favour towards self organized, autonomous, horizontal networks (for examples, see Bennett, 2003; Martin, 2004; Collin, 2008). However, this perspective treats young people merely as ‘vessels’ of the new activism and neglect to examine how their lives have been shaped by the use of new media technologies and the internet.
The youth centered perspective, represented for example by Juris and Pleyers (2009), acknowledges that ICTs have always been part of young people’s lives and that it intersects with other factors in shaping how they conceive politics and activism. Most of the studies in this perspective were done with youth activists in existing transnational social justice movements, such as the global anti-capitalism or environmental movements. Nevertheless, this perspective mainly views youth activists as ‘becomings’ by defining them as the younger layer of actors in a multi-generational group that will be future leaders of the movement. There are very few researches on autonomous youth movements that are created and consist of young people themselves and look at the youth as political actors in its own right. In addition, the majority of studies also focused on the youth as individuals but not as a collective force.
In addition to the shortcomings of each perspective, there are also common gaps in the current broader body of knowledge on the intersection of youth, new media technologies, and activism.
Firstly, existing researches tend to define activism as concrete actions, such as protests and campaigns, and the values represented by such actions. It neglects other elements that constitute activism together with the actions and values, such as the issue taken up by the action, the ideologies underlying the formulation of action, and the actors behind the activism (Sherrod, 2005; Kassimir, 2005). Divorcing these elements from the analysis gave only a partial view of what youth digital activism is.
Secondly, the majority of studies zoomed into the novelty of new media technologies and how they are being used as a point of departure to investigate the topic. This arguably stems from an adult-centric, pre-digital point of view, which overlooks the fact that internet and new media has always been ‘technology’ for most young people just as how the radio and television have always been ‘technology’ for the previous generation (Shah and Abraham, 2009). This way of thinking divorces the ‘digital’ from the ‘activism’ in digital activism; consequently, it ignores all the other factors that are causing and shaping youth activism and fails to capture how youth actors themselves are viewing or giving meaning to this digital activism.
Finally, researches on the issue skew excessively on developed countries. It must be acknowledged that the ‘digital divide’, or the unequal access to and familiarity with technology based on gender, class, caste, education, economic status or geographical location, in developing countries is deeper and that the digitally active youth are a privileged minority. Yet, a neglect to understand their activism also means a failure to understand why and how the elite who are often perceived to be politically apathetic are engaging with their community to create social change.
The weaknesses identified above demonstrate that our understanding on this particular form of contemporary youth activism is currently obscured. Hence, the two narratives of ‘hope’ and ‘doubt’ lose their relevance given that the subject of assessment, the digital youth activism, is not even clearly understood.
Based on the above overview of the limitations, it is imperative to find a new way to approach to understand the phenomenon of digital youth activism. I will explore the possibilities of such an approach with the following arguments as the starting point.Firstly, I argue that the key limitation lies on the adult-centric perspective in viewing youth’s engagement with new media technologies, thus what is essential is to go beyond the ‘digital’ and focus on the ‘activism’ part of youth digital activism. Secondly, I argue that exploration of the issue from the standpoint of the youth political actors themselves is crucial to counter the adult-centric perspective dominating the literatures on this topic. Thirdly, since so many researches divorce the youth from the context of their activism, it is crucial to focus on a particular case study to a tease out the nuances of youth digital activism.
I have the opportunity to explore the approach through a study with The Blank Noise Project, an initiative to address the problem of street sexual harassment in public spaces that originated in 2003 in Bangalore. It has since expanded into nine cities in India with over 2,000 volunteers, all young people between 17-30 years of age. Known for their unique public art street interventions as well as their savvy online presence, The Blank Noise Project was also chosen because its growth and sustainability over the past seven years are a testament to its legitimacy and relevance for youth in India.
The research does not aim to assess the contribution of The Blank Noise Project to social change nor does it claim to represent all forms of youth digital activism in India. Rather, it aims to offer insights on one of the forms of digital natives joining forces for a cause. The research is interested in the following questions: how do young people involved in the Blank Noise articulate their politics? Who are their audience? What are their strategies? What is their conception of the public sphere? How do they organize themselves? How do they represent themselves to others? How do they see and give meaning to their involvement with the Blank Noise? How can we make sense of their initiative? While ‘activism’ is the popular term that is also used in this research, is their initiative a form of activism or is it something else altogether? More importantly, how do these young people define it by themselves? For the next few months, I will share stories, questions, and reflections that emerge along my journey of exploring those questions with The Blank Noise Project on the CIS blog.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
2010 UN-HABITAT Urban Youth Fund beneficiaries
The 51 winning projects from 31 countries will be announced globally on International Youth Day on 12 August. The projects showcase innovative ideas aimed at alleviating poverty, improving employment prospects for young people and increasing the participation of young people in democratic processes.
“My congratulations go to these youth groups for their outstanding projects,” said Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT. “The winning applications contain innovative ideas that will truly contribute towards sustainable urbanization and I wish them every success in their projects and their future.”
Among the recipients are a Sierra Leonean association providing vocational training for disabled youth, a Zimbabwean youth network empowering young slum dwellers to advocate for secure land tenure; a Palestinian youth forum setting up youth councils to influence the local government, a Haitian organization establishing an ICT training center for youth and an Indian youth group seeking to hold the local government accountable through young citizens media.
The UN-HABITAT Urban Youth Fund awards eligible organizations grants of between USD 5,000 and USD 25,000. The groups that qualify have to meet strict UN criteria and are required to report on results and effectiveness.
Of some one billion slum dwellers in the world today, it is estimated that more than 70 percent are under the age of 30. These young people have few resources available to improve their own living environments.
The complete list of this year’s grant recipients can be found on our website: www.unhabitat.org/youthfund
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Goonj is hosting Youth Leadership Meet in Delhi
Goonj is hosting a Youth Leadership Meet in Delhi 21-22nd August : For more details and registration
http://www.goonj.org/meetatdelhi.htm
http://www.goonj.org/meetatdelhi.htm
Youth Perspectives: Local Students Dance for Charity
What started off as a simple suggestion has inspired two girls to establish a Summer Dance Camp for charity. Led by upcoming senior Anika Nayyar and upcoming sophomore Kiren Singh from Foothill High School, the girls are providing Bhangra dance classes free of charge.
The two does accept donations from their students to go towards two charity foundations: Amar Jyoti School and Asha Kiran School, which both aid handicapped and underprivileged children in India.
Both Nayyer and Singh are established competitive and professional dancers.
Nayyar was inspired to create the camp when a parent of one of her previous students requested her to continue teaching Bhangra over the summer. She had dedicated her time in spring to train a local Bhangra team named Virsa Punjab in which the students were 7 to 11 years old.
Bhangra is a traditional Punjabi dance from northern India, and has recently grown very popular among high school students. An estimated 80 students were involved in Bhangra teams this past school year, around 60 at Foothill and 20 at Amador.
"I want to spread more awareness of my culture and of Bhangra," Nayyar said. "Most people just get to watch it or hear the music, but not a lot of people get the opportunity to learn it. I just want others to experience the same joy that I feel when I dance."
Although Nayyar had initially planned to teach children, her method of social media marketing attracted more teenage students. For now, they have five persistent students who show up to each practice.
Nayyar was also motivated to teach after volunteering at the Amar Jyoti Charitable Trust in India last winter. There, she found the opportunity to provide a dance instruction to some of the handicapped students.
"I was amazed at what they can do," she states, "interacting with those kids definitely changed me."
She decided to incorporate the charity into the summer dance camp idea. After informing her good friend, Singh, about the program, the two joined forces and Singh asked that Asha Kiran School be included to the cause.
The Asha Kiran School guides mentally challenged and hearing impaired children to live independently.
"I've worked with mentally challenged children through Special Olympics in the US too," Singh said. "So it made sense to support Asha Kiran because volunteering there made me really happy and I felt good that I was helping these children, who were so welcoming and warm."
Along with the satisfaction of knowing that they're participating for a good cause, students such as Nehal Tenany and Alina Nazar were attracted to join the camp so that they can "expand their dance horizon," as Tenany explains it.
Practices are usually one hour long, but they may run over by 15 to 20 minutes over. Everyone has to learn the routine. They begin by learning the footwork, followed by the hand movements. After putting it all together with the beat, the students practice a few times with the music, and the rest is repetition.
Along with Bhangra, Nayyar and Singh will also teach Giddah, Bollywood, Hip-hop, and Jazz, teaching a new dance style each week. The camp lasts seven weeks and began in July 11.
Practices are every Saturdays at noon at 310 Brianne Court and students of all ages are welcomed.
For more information, contact anikanayyar@gmail.com or kirensingh@gmail.com
The two does accept donations from their students to go towards two charity foundations: Amar Jyoti School and Asha Kiran School, which both aid handicapped and underprivileged children in India.
Both Nayyer and Singh are established competitive and professional dancers.
Nayyar was inspired to create the camp when a parent of one of her previous students requested her to continue teaching Bhangra over the summer. She had dedicated her time in spring to train a local Bhangra team named Virsa Punjab in which the students were 7 to 11 years old.
Bhangra is a traditional Punjabi dance from northern India, and has recently grown very popular among high school students. An estimated 80 students were involved in Bhangra teams this past school year, around 60 at Foothill and 20 at Amador.
"I want to spread more awareness of my culture and of Bhangra," Nayyar said. "Most people just get to watch it or hear the music, but not a lot of people get the opportunity to learn it. I just want others to experience the same joy that I feel when I dance."
Although Nayyar had initially planned to teach children, her method of social media marketing attracted more teenage students. For now, they have five persistent students who show up to each practice.
Nayyar was also motivated to teach after volunteering at the Amar Jyoti Charitable Trust in India last winter. There, she found the opportunity to provide a dance instruction to some of the handicapped students.
"I was amazed at what they can do," she states, "interacting with those kids definitely changed me."
She decided to incorporate the charity into the summer dance camp idea. After informing her good friend, Singh, about the program, the two joined forces and Singh asked that Asha Kiran School be included to the cause.
The Asha Kiran School guides mentally challenged and hearing impaired children to live independently.
"I've worked with mentally challenged children through Special Olympics in the US too," Singh said. "So it made sense to support Asha Kiran because volunteering there made me really happy and I felt good that I was helping these children, who were so welcoming and warm."
Along with the satisfaction of knowing that they're participating for a good cause, students such as Nehal Tenany and Alina Nazar were attracted to join the camp so that they can "expand their dance horizon," as Tenany explains it.
Practices are usually one hour long, but they may run over by 15 to 20 minutes over. Everyone has to learn the routine. They begin by learning the footwork, followed by the hand movements. After putting it all together with the beat, the students practice a few times with the music, and the rest is repetition.
Along with Bhangra, Nayyar and Singh will also teach Giddah, Bollywood, Hip-hop, and Jazz, teaching a new dance style each week. The camp lasts seven weeks and began in July 11.
Practices are every Saturdays at noon at 310 Brianne Court and students of all ages are welcomed.
For more information, contact anikanayyar@gmail.com or kirensingh@gmail.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)