Speak Up for Young People!

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TYPF is trying to raise funds as well as raise the profile of the work that we do – and we’re in a competition where we need people to account for what we do – and why it’s important plus your experiences with us. Your feedback will also help us improve our work!

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GreatNonprofits, Little India, and GuideStar have teamed up to launch the 2009 InDiya Shine Awards to recognize the top-rated nonprofits that are making a difference in India or within the Indian community abroad.

During this festival period, organizations with the most positive reviews will be announced winners. There will be 3 winners in each of 3 budget categories (Small, Medium, Large).

What do winners get? Winners will be featured on Greatnonprofits.org and Guidestar.org, the premier site for philanthropic research on the Web. There will also be a special feature on the contest and the winners in Little India – the largest overseas Indian publication in the U.S., including special editorial content.

Just select in the form when asked that we are looking for the inDiya awards icon.

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Comstockery

PRONUNCIATION:

(KOM-stok-uh-ree)

MEANING:

Noun: Overzealous censorship of material considered obscene.

Differing meanings of sexuality permeate our vocabulary, our expressions, our words, but really? What does it take to define sexuality? Seeing myself, as consciously possible to be someone defined within the ‘youngperson’ category, what does it take to illustrate sexuality?

Why is it that sexuality as regarding young people becomes even more contentious and forbidden? The ideals of an innocence which we as adults look back to, with fondness and longing sometimes seems to be a web we have created, an excuse to believe that not everything is gray. The dictionary defines childhood as the state or period of being a child, where a child is seen as a person between birth and full growth or any person or thing regarded as the product or result of particular agencies, influences, etc. While the first definition is most definitely the one we are looking for, let us for variety’s sake consider the 2^nd.

‘any person or thing regarded as the product or result of particular agencies, influences, etc’

The concept of Choice comes up often in debates around matters of rights. But of course we all understand that choice also exists within restraint. That very restraint which defines a child; our choices are in itself a product or result of certain agencies, influences etc. So what is it about choosing to be sexual that scares us so much?

A couple of observations will follow. And these are only mine. No references, no footnotes, no sources. Apologise to all those who believe that real writing has to be sourced.

In the end most of it seems to centre around 2 factors, one internal and the other external. Firstly, how sacred we consider the body to be. By sacred I don’t mean only holy or pure, but rather more, untouchable. Meant to be seen as an object of beauty, to be leched at, but from a distance, to be touched but only by strangers.

What I mean is this; when it comes to the bodies of women close to you, its sacredness and virtue is undeniable, the second the body in consideration is that of an unknown woman it becomes property, to be felt, seen, measured and enjoyed. Sacred also in the sense that the body which is more ‘used’ is unclean, not to be respected. But who measures what is sacred and what is not? What is used what is not? And when did use become an anathema? However much we might reiterate that sexuality is not just about sex, it does sometimes come down to that. Sex; the act, as well as Sex; the biology.

While discussing what sexuality means in training session last week, one of the participants very pertinently asked what the difference between sexuality and personality was. If sexuality encompasses everything, is influenced by everything and in turn influences all. How does it differ from how we describe ourselves as people? The answer given to that was; that sexuality specifically has to do with who we are as sexual beings. But the answer and question in itself now seem fundamentally flawed.

The question is not how sexuality is different but rather why we try to see and define the same as different from all other processes of living and growth. And that’s where questions of sacredness come in. The debates are numerous and the questions more so.

If we consider young people (seeing it from a solely age point of view), and the idea of sacred, the untouchability of the body comes into stark relief. My body is a temple, and even I’m not allowed to touch it so. I’ve taken part in a not too large, but decent number of workshops with the supposed ‘urban educated’ of Delhi on issues of sexuality. In most cases, sexuality or the expression of the same is still measured by the number of people we sleep with, how long we have been Confused and what all we question as ‘normal’.

Most don’t know where their vagina is located and admit that while it is okay for women to masturbate they themselves don’t do so. The Hypothetical, Abstract women masturbate. With men the picture is different, of course they’ve had wet dreams and of course they pleasure themselves, its natural, What becomes ironic is not just that women don’t talk freely about such issues but rather that they truly never thought that they to have a right to pleasure,( or correct anatomical knowledge to do so). It might sound silly and stupid but do we not know that women too can pleasure themselves.

Such incidences are symptomatic of many larger issues, gender issue remain at the bottom of understanding of sexuality and identity, but even identification of the same takes time.

Sexuality and health awareness is coated in the language of rights. Of affirmativeness, of positivity. But the question remains of what is culturally suitable? Queries surrounding sexuality and culture form a beautifully blurred image in my mind. Is the language of rights too universal?

Sexuality education and the coming of HIV has made private habits of people a matter of public debate, the oft talked of distinction between public and private spheres once again holds us enthralled. Heated passions and questions of morality are thrown about, but once again, can the state tell us what we can or cannot do in our homes? Why is it that when it comes to young people, the debate changes course, it’s no longer a question of confidentiality and privacy, but rather of morality and culture? If women are considered the symbols of Mother Nature and the Motherland, the ‘young people’ occupy a similar culturally sacred space in our collective consciousness. Young people are the ‘future’, the inheritors of culture, ethnicity and national pride. We are the ‘leaders of tomorrow’.

And what do we do with everything that is considered sacred and essential for survival? We preserve it, protect it, and hide it from harm. But the problem here is that we, as people, have this tendency to not listen, to at some level rebel. I don’t mean a great consensual declaration of rebellion, but rather little acts of thinking which make us want to do things our own way. Not always right, not always wrong. A book on participatory processes I was reading, said something which stayed with me. Participation is not a onetime process. You can’t expect people to turn 18 and suddenly become responsible citizens. Participation is about ownership and ownership grows, with responsibility and realisation of its importance. I believe that it’s the same with issues of sexuality and what young people should know. ‘Responsible behaviour’ (whatever that might be), doesn’t come from not knowing or ignorance and nor does it come with censored knowledge, but rather with ownership and understanding of our bodies, gender and all things sexual.

Going on to the external factor, marriage it seems is seen as the root cause of stability in society, the essential unit in political, sociological and all other such processes. Sexuality in all its glory is seen to threaten this stability, hence destroying the ‘moral’ fabric of society. Again many strands are present in this thinking, for example:

Sexuality= promiscuousity= unfaithfulness and divorce.

Heterosexual marriages= procreation= right marriage.

Understanding of gender issues= women negating traditional roles= instability in married life.

There are many, many more such connections, but we shall leave it at that. In essence, when sexuality issues come to the fore, traditional understandings of nature and societal processes are shaken, and in the end it is stability of society and ‘human kind’ which is valued more than dignity and rights of an individual.

In essence, the paradox/ absurdity/conundrum remain. Sexuality is intrinsic, powerful, deeply personal and individual. Its repercussions and expressions are the very foundations upon which our societal systems are based.

Yes, things are changing, ‘times’ are more liberal and free, But what does it really mean in today’s world to be liberal, not only in politics, but in thought and action?

Ishita Sharma

Call for Applications: VIKALP: Searching for Alternatives

Call for Applications

UNESCO and The YP Foundation

VIKALP: Searching for Alternatives

A Youth Forum for Social Change

13th-16th November 2009, New Delhi

The Youth Forum on Social Change, to be held in New Delhi from the 13th to 16th of November 2009, is aimed at promoting youth led dialogue and action in India, by bringing together young people from across the country to share best practices and examine strategies on how they can build youth action in an inclusive and cohesive manner.

The Youth Forum aims to facilitate the active engagement of young people, by focusing on youth led community work in four specific issues of gender and sexuality, education, disability and HIV/AIDS.

The four-day forum will bring together 32 young people who are implementing existing youth led community work in these four cross cutting areas. All expenses relating to travel, accommodation and food will be covered for outstation participants only.

For projects/initiatives that are developed as an outcome of the 4-day forum, UNESCO and TYPF will make available small grants to support collective youth leadership and shall also provide mentoring and support in the development, implementation and assessment of these initiatives. Participants who are selected for the forum must be willing to conceptualize and design initiatives that incorporate the outcome of the learning’s of the forum.

For more details, please email theypfoundation@gmail.com The deadline for submitting applications is September 18, 2009. Email theypfoundation@gmail.com to get a copy of the application.

Please do help us spread word!

Youth Statement to Governments at ICAAP

In the last two days, over 150 young people ranged from 17 to 35 years, representing over 20 countries, came together in solidarity. The youth group at the second largest AIDS forum in the world, the 9^th ICAAP, drafted a collective commitment to increase young people’s stake in programmes and policy processes that impact their lives and their rights.

As youth from Brunei, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Japan, China, Philippines, Brazil, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Nepal, Burma, Malaysia, Samoa, Lao, Papua New Guinea and South Korea, this commitment we make, is deeply personal. It is to achieve meaningful youth participation by developing strong adult peer partnerships, increase funding and capacity building for youth led and youth serving initiatives, mainstream human rights in the HIV and AIDS response for all young people, recognize and affirm young people’s sexual reproductive health and rights and eliminate stigma and discrimination amongst young people.

And one wonders, what exactly does that mean? As a 24 year old who has been part of this incredibly diverse forum, there is a question that repeatedly comes up in all of our communities. Young people ask about it, in confusion. Parents ask about it, worried. Teachers and Schools wonder what to do with it, communities discuss it, in secret and our governments are still grappling with developing a comprehensive framework to implement it.

Why is sexuality so problematic?

Why as society, are we so scared to address any kind of sexuality education or rights cohesively? What stops us from giving young people complete rather than half baked information that is critical and life saving and that can protect them from disease, empowers them to be informed individuals and that teach them to be respectful to their own needs and desires and to be respectful towards the rights of others as well?

Why is there in all of our countries, this huge gap between what’s happening in our lives and how empowered young people are, to be able to address these issues within their own societies?

Sexuality Education is about young people’s right to know. The arguments based on cohesive Sexuality Education being against our cultural and moral values are invalid and do not justify denying young people the information and skills they need and are entitled to. Exhaustive research studies show that implementing comprehensive sexuality education does not lead to an increase in early sexual activity.

Majority of the awareness work we do around the prevention of HIV/AIDS isn’t nearly half as effective as it should have been, because there is this underlying silence that no one will address. And as governments, as leaders, you cannot look away from the fact that young people are contracting HIV every day because they do not have the knowledge and tools to protect themselves. When you take the so called ‘safer route’ and substitute conversations about recognizing multiple sexuality and gender identities, staying healthy and protecting oneself from STI’s and feeling comfortable with one’s own body with conversations instead, about promoting self control and abstinence, you destroy any open space or possibility for conversation between young people and their families and communities.

No religion or society in the world, wants its young people to contract STDs, wants its young women to die in early childbirth or see violating inequalities between men and women. Comprehensive Sexuality Education is a framework that addresses each of these issues. It is not just about how to have sex, but rather about good quality school based sexuality, relationship and HIV education that increases the age of sexual debut and has positive effects on the risk of STIs and unintended pregnancies and attitudes towards people living with HIV.

It is also not automatically covered under the ambit of Reproductive Heath. When we replace curriculums on sexuality education and call them population control, family and life planning, health education, we need to ensure that we are still addressing sexuality as a basic component of human nature, that needs to be integrated in a larger framework of human rights.

Young people from Asia and the Pacific commonly identified various gaps and highlighted best practices present in how comprehensive sexuality education was being addressed in their country, some of which I’m sharing with you today:

· Many young people at this forum have highlighted the problems faced with having decentralized governments. There needs to be a standardized approach taken to implement comprehensive sexuality education. Central governments need to be able to dialogue clearer with state governments or provinces, to lobby for a standardized, comprehensive approach that is made accessible not just in government schools, but to out of school youth and those in private and faith based institutions as well.

· We believe that the approaches the ministry of education and ministry of health in each country implement could be aligned to ensure a more effective outcome, making schools a safe space for such conversation.

· We also believe that UN organizations in each country can play a key role in ensuring that this happens, because they have access to spaces of influence with governments that as young people, we do not.

· The importance and need of explaining to young people, condom use as well as negotiating the same was flagged as critical. Young people from Malaysia and India specifically felt that this was lacking in the approach that their governments implemented.

· Youth from Pakistan, Malaysia, Papua New Gunea, Indonesia, Burma, Bangladesh and India felt strongly that comprehensive sexuality education is only effective if the form by which it is taught is without shame or embarassment and that currently in their countries, a larger focus needs to be made on implementing peer education services, as this makes the information contextualization easier and more age appropriate.

· They also felt strongly that teachers implementing curriculums need to be trained. The Brazilian Government partnership with civil society organizations who have the capacity and infrastructure to be able to do this was a best practise highlighted. We believe that civil society organizations and peer education has greater potential to be able to correctly implement community specific comprehensive sexuality education and partnerships should be encouraged by governments in asia and the pacific. Young people from China and Japan endorsed the need for this strongly.

· Young People from Pakistan feel that the lack of a specific curriculum in sexuality education in Pakistan has led to limited information being made accessible in certain provinces of the country. A study by a recent NGO in the country revealed that sex education being conducted was not age appropriate, it was only in class 12 that many male students are taught anatomy and that often, frogs reproductive systems are used to explain human biology and sexuality.

· A greater effort needs to be made to dialogue with the positive power of faith and religion, as most young people pointed out that religious texts such as the Holy Quran have clear passages that advocate for recognizing women’s rights as well as reproductive health. However, it is often in the interpretation of these texts and a lack of community understanding on interpreting religious beliefs that biases step in. In Bangladesh, Imams are trained and in Brunei, christian priests have now been trained to address the HIV reponse.

· Many young people feel that counseling and testing services are not comprehensive in their countries, services are not affordable and healthcare professionals are judgemental and stigmatize often the services they are offering. In Papa New Guniea, youth pointed out that there is an understanding of the approach that needs to be taken, but simply a lack in implementing youth friendly services and an educational curriculum.

· Youth from Indonesia pointed out that comprehensive sexuality education is seen as an extra curricular activity and is not compulsory learning. We strongly feel that comprehensive sexuality education should be made age appropriate and mandatory for all young people.

· Moreover we are absolutely sure, that a pure abstinence based approach does not work, as it discourages, embarasses and stimgatizes young people from asking honest, open and relevant questions. A sex positive approach that mainstreams sexuality as part of human rights to HIV is needed. The recent move by US President Obama to advocate for age appropriate comprehensive sexuality education and replace abstinence only education is testament to this. Youth from Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Malayasia, Singapore, Brunei, Pakistan, Samoa and South Kora felt that this was a critical factor and were unable to communicate the same to their governments effectively.

· Youth from India highlighted the need to involve young people in reviewing and developing effective models to implement comprehensive sexuality education curriculai. We also feel that young people are aware of the cultural sensitivities in their countries and are at times, better placed to develop approaches that are comprehensive yet practical and senstitive to the needs of the community that they will be used in.

It was clear that all 150 young people feel that in each of their countries, there needs to be a significant increase in recgonizing diverse gender and sexual identities and addressing gender equity, both in their respective country’s legal and societal frameworks. We believe that you can pretend that an issue doesn’t exist in society and refuse to address it, but if you overlook entire communities of people and their fundamental right to express their own identity, you will only fuel anger. Governments weaken themselves when they do this and they are less respected by their own citizens. As youth, we need to see an increase of positive role models in governments.

Sexuality Education is guided by the principle, that by empowering young people and giving them a safe space in society where they can ask questions, you are investing in develop a very critical human resource that builds the future and promise of any country. And to our minds, that’s exactly why we are we need to support implementing CSE. We believe these issues are key to empowering young people to protect themselves and that if you give young people their right to information, skills and services and that if you trust rather than judge who you think they are, young people can negotiate high-risk situations more effectively and reduce their vulnerability to a range of issues, specifically, violence, HIV and substance abuse.

We have been working for the past 5 months, through E consultations, skill building sessions, advocacy training to now at ICAAP, developing a special youth corner that hosts an adult and young people commitment desk. This commitment desk is testament to the fact that as young people, we will hold you, leaders, decision makers and governments, accountable to working with us. We hope you will raise the bar by making a commitment that highlights how our governments and ministries believe in investing in young people’s future and their rights and showcase best practices in how we can work together.

A comprehensive sexuality education framework has many benefits. It improves maternal health, integrating HIV and STI prevention, reducing unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions, encourages democracy through building critical thinking skills and promotes gender equality by empowering young people and involving young men and boys. Our call to you is to redefine the possibility and potential of how we see and work with young people in our societies.

A participative, affordable, youth friendly, well-implemented comprehensive sexuality education framework is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. In this century, with poverty, HIV, climate change and global recession becoming a deadly reality, you cannot walk away. It is unforgivable, inexcusable and inhumane. As decision makers and political leaders, we need you to choose people over politics and development over silence.

As the youth forum from ICAAP, we believe in the positive power of what young people and decision makers can do, if they work together. We hope we can count on you, in the most meaningful way possible, to lead the change we need to see.

Ishita Chaudhry

On behalf of the Youth Forum, Bali Youth Force at the 9^th ICAAP

DAY-1 25th July, 2009 – What The YP Stands For

· In Concert: A performance by Swarathma, a leading music band in the country. Swarathma was formed in 2002, as a Bangalore based Indian Folk/fusion band. They released their debut album on Virgin Records and were nominated for the Jack Daniels Indian Rock Awards in 2008. Winners of the Radio City Live 2006 nation wide content for Bangalore’s Best Band in 2006 and were finalists for the Radio City Live content for India’s best Hindi Band. In 2008 Swarathma recorded for a compilation album funded by the British Council. They have performed both in India and internationally.


· In Exhibit: 7 Years of The YP: Artwork, paintings, photography and installation art showcasing young people’s work with the issues we work with.


· In Film: Digital Stories by the YP’s Youth-led Staff: featuring staff members' journeys with The YP Foundation, on what it means to run a youth-led organization and projects that create social change. Supported by the Global Fund for Children and the Centre for Digital Storytelling, USA.


Venue: The Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre

Backyard Sound: Why I work with original music in Delhi

Three years ago my friend dragged me to a concert at the India Habitat Centre to volunteer for this “youth organisation” called the YP. Well, I thought the organisation was actually Silhouette, a branch of the YP, and the difference has since been pointed out to me more times than I can count. He told me there was a band called Thermal and A Quarter playing at the Amphitheatre, so called because they comprised four guys, three of whom were “mallu” and the fourth a quarter mal. Now I know you’re expecting me to rave about how it was a life changing experience, how I fell in love with Original Indian bands and the YP and decided to give my life to working for the branch I currently head. Well you would be sorely mistaken. In came final year exams and pressure from my parents, and out went anything that kept me away from the books. But where there is a will there is a way. I kept myself involved with the YP as best as I could, being called in once in a while to help with projects or lend my acting skills (humble though they may be) to a short film or two.

After I graduated from college I suddenly realised that I had a lot of time on my hands and no way to use it productively. I had joined the Law Faculty of Delhi University, where extra-curricular activities are pretty much non-existent. I had all this passion and energy and nothing to funnel it into. Around the same time The YP Foundation (or, if you would rather, TYPF), no longer the Youth Parliament I remembered, had its 6th Anniversary Celebration. I tagged along with some friends to the India Habitat Centre, a place I have come to see as a third home now (the second being the old Defence Colony Office). As my friends went through the elaborate exhibition, looking for their grinning faces amongst the sea of photographs, I found myself most envious. I wanted that. I wanted to work with other young people who thought like I did, liked the same music, and had a passion for the arts. I wanted to see my mug in an exhibition, take pride in a poster I helped design or the performance of a band I helped pick. So as soon as Raghu Dixit and Them Clones finished a brilliant set each, I set out to enquire when the next YP Induction was. I wanted to sign up!

It has been almost a year now since that day. I have experiences that have been enriching and draining; wonderful and also completely ball-busting. I have had the privilege to meet many passionate and exciting people, all driven by the common goal of working for what drives them, though the actual medium may differ. This past year has also been quite an eye-opener. Up till the TAAQ concert, I had heard of bands like Zero, Half Step Down and PDV but had never gone to any of their gigs. The closest I had come was downloading Bandeh off the net. Not because I couldn’t, mind you. Being in college, getting into bars or pubs wasn’t that hard (the fact that at this point I could grow a decent goatee definitely helped). I didn’t go because I didn’t think they were worth it. Like many of the people whose minds I am now working to change, I couldn’t be bothered to give artists like them a chance. I fantasised about bands like Metallica and Red Hot Chilli Peppers coming to India, and paying 1500-3000 Rupees for a chance to see them, rather than take a 15 minute drive to a pub and see these guys perform. In my mind, the bigger the venue, the bigger the band. Surely a band that performed in a small dark smoky bar couldn’t be all that great, right?

I have since been mesmerised as acts like Indian Ocean, Swarathma, Raghu Dixit, East India Company and Five8 have taken the stage. The last of these in fact is a band featuring two of my colleagues and friends from YP. It is an amazing realisation that talent like this has existed right in our backyards and yet so many of us have not given it a second thought, for whatever reason. Things are changing, slowly maybe, but they are. Every week I hear a new song by an Original Indian artist on the radio; I catch videos by Them Clones or Indian Ocean on VH1; I see an album by a Swarathma or Raghu Dixit in Music Planet. I wouldn’t think to presume that I have any great role to play in this evolution, but I am happy that I am trying to do my part. As a young “Music Enthusiast” I am proud that the people from my city, and from my country, are taking a chance to pursue their passion. And I am proud to support them in whatever way I can. Even if it’s just by standing in the crowd with a lighter shouting my lungs out.


Zafar Khurshid

Blending Spectrum: On Location

The first day I walked into the Nizamuddin basti as a volunteer in August 2007, a group of excited children came running towards me and asked me if I was a new didi. Then each one of them eagerly introduced themselves to me and greeted me; some brought flowers, some gave me a hug, and some just could not help smiling. It is that one experience that has stayed with me ever since, and makes me go back to Nizamuddin again and again. Over the past two years I have seen many volunteers come and go but, like me, those who decide to stay on are the ones who built that very special bond with the children.

The Nizamuddin basti is a rag-picker colony with about thirty families living in it, some Muslim and others Hindu. Because of their economically disadvantaged background, the upbringing of these children is often unpleasant. Frustration caused by the lack of basic necessities in the area is released through violence, and in their years of innocence these children are exposed to a much darker side of life than we ever are.

A slum child’s eagerness to learn gives us all the positive energy we need, on location. After about two months of teaching the children about hygiene, one day this little girl at the basti came up to me and showed me her hands. She told me that she had washed them because she did not want to fall ill. That, for me, was by far one of the most heartening experiences.

Still, there are some problems we encounter on a daily basis. The attitude of the parents is one such problem: they are not always comfortable letting outsiders interact so closely with their children, but this attitude is changing as the parents are beginning to understand what we are doing and why we are doing it.

Communal tension is another problem that we have tried to address over the years as these children imbibe intolerance to other religions from their home environments. This attitude is difficult to deal with as it is deep rooted and reinforced by families, however we have been able to address it to the extent that whatever their home environment may be like our classroom is a place of secular learning where they sit together and work with each other.

The change I see is very slow, but the trust a child builds in me gives me the courage to do what I am doing and have a vision for these smiling faces.


Devyani Dutt

TYPF Birthday Teaser

What happens when you take forty young people, put them in a room, and let them design projects about the issues that matter to them?

What happens when you give young people the skills and the self-belief to actually make a difference to the world around them?

What happens when you try to bottle the madness, the creativity, and the excitement with which the youth works, and use it to inspire others?

What makes so many young people come and work insane hours, day after day, despite how much it annoys their families and friends?

We, The YP Foundation, have been doing it for seven years now, and we discover a new answer for these questions each year, with every new team and with every new project. TYPF is a space where young people are given a chance to design and run projects about the issues that they’re passionate about. These issues range from governance and the law to sexuality, health, rights and HIV/AIDS; from original music in India to adolescent issues in schools; from using film and literature for social change to working with urban slum children.

We first used to be The Youth Parliament, now we’re registered as The YP Foundation, and we’re turning seven this July. And on this occasion, we have taken a stab at defining what The YP means. What it means to our staff, to our volunteers, to our alumni, to our stakeholders and to our audience.

So, come join us in celebrating seven years of our work, seven years of social change, and see the evolving answers to the questions we posed in the beginning of this post.

Venue: India Habitat Centre
Date: 25th and 26th July, 2009

Current Projects

A few of the projects that are currently functioning in the YP are:

1. The Blending Spectrum Project which works with providing healthcare and non-formal education in the form of certain life-skills training (hygiene, memory etc) to urban street children in Delhi. We work with a team of 30 volunteers and reach out to over 110 children over our two locations: the Nizamuddin Basti (South Delhi) and the Sarai Hostel (North Delhi).

2. Project 19 is a 3 year long initiative set up to work with young people on the issues of HIV/AIDS and Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights. By training young people in Delhi to conduct awareness workshops and discussions around issues of sexuality, gender, identity and sexual reproductive health we are helping to break down the culture of silence and taboo around these issues and provide spaces where accurate information can be disseminated to young people.

3. The Butterfly Project provides young film-makers and writers with the training, resources and platforms to engage with socio-cultural issues through audio-visual and written mediums. Through the publication of our magazine, The Bridge and our annual film festival - The Film Series, we provide young people with alternative mediums to connect with issues they are passionate about and work towards social change and justice.

4. The RTI Programme provides young people with a space to engage with the legislative systems in our country, demystifying the laws, their application and the political process as a whole with the larger aim of encouraging a culture of active citizenship amongst the youth. The project undertaken by this branch is What Does Your Vote Want?, a non-partisan, non-political initiative set up to prepare young people for the upcoming General Elections, be it by providing them with the necessary information required to get registered as a voter, or by creating dialogue for young people to discus issues around politics, governance and voting.

5. VOICES - The School Project looks at taking the education programmes for school students beyond the formal structure of the classroom by conducting specialized awareness workshops on issues of peer-pressure, bullying and mental heath. Through these workshops, conducted by college students who act as peer-educators, VOICES aims at developing an informed decision making capacity and stronger life skills for adolescent students in urban Delhi schools.

6. Silhouette supports young people working in the fields of performing and visual arts by providing them with a platform to showcase their work, and a space to exchange ideas, information and innovation between artists, amateurs, professionals and enthusiasts. This year, Silhouette is focusing on issues of music education and careers in music through conducting workshops and organizing performance platforms.


More information about these projects will be available soon, please subscribe via email for further updates.

The YP Foundation and Sexuality Rights Online in India

TYPF's Ishita Sharma and Ishita Chaudhry talk about building awareness about sexuality rights online.

Staff Positions at TYPF - Call for Applications

The YP Foundation (established as The Youth Parliament in 2002 with support from the India Habitat Centre and registered as The YP Foundation in 2007) is a volunteer based non-profit organization that is committed to developing the uninhibited expression of young people.

Our primary objective is to support innovative ventures by young people by developing their skills and ideas to create projects and programmes that create social impact. We work with the age group of 16 to 28, empowering volunteers to develop their potential to reach others.

This year, we have decided to open our staff positions for application. We are currently looking for applicants to fill posts in our Senior Management, Management and Programme Divisions teams:

Requirements for all applicants:

1. Applicants must be over 17 years of age.
2. Applicants should preferably be Delhi-based or else be available to work in Delhi throughout the year.
3. Applicants must have a reasonable command over Hindi and English.
4. Applicants must have an inclination towards working with social issues for young people.
5. The term of each post is for 1.5 – 2 years. (Negotiable)
6. Applicants who meet the above requirements need to fill out an application form, post that all applicants will be called in for an interview.
7. Interview dates are 4,5,6th of June 2009. You need to be available one of those days.

Please send in your applications by June 1st 2009. For the application form and posts available, please contact us at

The YP Foundation,
D 344, Defence Colony,
New Delhi

E. theypfoundation@gmail.com
M. +91 9810283653.

If you’re passionate, creative, hard working, have the time and have always wanted a chance to run your own initiative, team or project – apply!

Please help us spread word!