Country specific presentation at the Youth and Inclusive Citizen Workshop organized by PRIA and ASPBAE from 8-10th September 2014

1. Youth and
Inclusive
Citizenship

2. Including who?
Scheduled Cast - 16.6%
Scheduled Tribe - 8.6%
Muslims - 13 %
a major
percentage of
these are youth
and would be
youth

3. 3 Key Issues for Inclusive Citizenship
1 -Lack of Equity Perspective in general - Majoritarinism has been on rise
pushing out any dialogues on religious exclusion, ethnicity and cast
structure. Even in INGO staff and CBO's there are individuals who talk
about "including everyone" and they get uncomfotable if specific
disadvantage of marginalized are raised and use example of a miniscule
percentage of marginalized who have benifitted to divert the attention.
2 - Multiple form of discrimination - Where are the youth to include. The
magnitude of multiple form of discrimination begning from primary
education and the ways in which post-metric scholarships are handled
ensures that somehow by the time a marginalized child becomes a youth,
he/she has dropped out, forced into low paying, unorganized sector jobs.
3 -Willful exclusion of stories of Marginalzed group/ role models from all
conversations - for those who are able to arrive at their youth, the
system/society works to make them feel guilty/ incomplete/ have low self-concept.
The stories of people from Marginalzed communities is limited,
outdated and distant and hence do not serve as anchor for young people
who are cornered every day for their identity.

4. SC/ST attrocity act - does not help as no
effort to educate the marginalized groups
about their right, and because of lack of
adequate representation of marginlized
approaching authority is not an obvious
solution
Reservation - has helped many to change
their life. There is no effort in institute to
include the marginalized. They face bias/
abuse / discrimination by peers and by
teaching/non teaching staff.
Scholarship as alms, being offered as
donations and not as a right
Current Youth Policy and how it negates
that specific attention is needed for these
youth. How there are no specific schemes
for bringing youth into the centre of devt –
except NYK, or NSS –
Issues of poor implementation
Growing privatisation and no space for
youth from these groups
Challenges of Inclusive Citizenship

5. CSEI & Play for Peace work with young people
To help children grow with positive self concept when they are young
Inclusive Education to help children step into their youth with a positive self
concept
Khel Se Mel to offer experiences of inclusion to build confidence/overcome past
trauma and see for themselves they are at par
Introducing Social Justice Minister in Bal Sansad who are from Marginalized
groups
Helping children understand childright and also do advocacy by learning to make
storie on their experiences of discrimination and present puppet shows to
communicate it in a less thretning way

6. With adoloscent and youth
Formation of Ambedkar Student Forum - A collective of young
people from SC community who are persuing education
To build a culture of education in their community
To have a space where they can share and voice their feelings
To have access to information that helps them access
opportunity
Vyaktitv Vikas Kendra (Personality Development Centre) in Bihar
To offer an alternative to tuition center and go beyond just tuition
to offer life skills education.
Access to hands on computer usage
Creating opportunities to take initiative and leadrship using
problem-solving activities, peer education and exposure visit
Youth Tech Hub in Delhi - To offer a space for marginalized
youth in urban slums to connect and build their self-concept and
life-skills. Teh space will also provide access to information and
opportunities
Efforts to connect to CSR and NSDM - The new mandate for
businesses to have CSR offers potential. We are in process to
bring equity perspective to CSR's. We aim to help CLO's develop
capacity to be CSR and NSDM capable

7. Experiential Learning - Play for Peace and CSEI are developing modules to make the
work with young people participatory. 5 Youth who have are trained facilitator form
Marginalzed community have been selected as changeloomers.
We see developing youth from marginalised community as "Life-Skills facilitator" having
a long term impact.
Helping Community Lead Organizations (CLO's ) to grow
CLO is a commnuity based organization lead by someone from the community.
It is our clear understanding and conviction that the growth of leadership and initiative
from within teh marginalized community if we want to sustain any change.
Formation of an Social Equity Working Group of CLO's that has taken on treking post
matric scholarship as an area of study to get case studies/ stories of discrimination/
nonimplementation of what constitution gurantees.

8. •Access to information
•Opportunities to voice their grievances at policy level
•Opprotunity to access experiential learning pedagogy in
contrast to traditional system that is inherently oppresive
and status-quoist
•Space to come together, share and learn, cooperate,
collaborate, mentor etc
•Platforms to build upon collective strength
•Gender and girls issues in particular – youth with
disability
Enablers for Inclusion

9. What and How Youth will take
charge and create "culture of
learning" in their communities.
With guidence and mentoring youth are becomeing change agents of their commnunity.
By creating ground level collectives where they get support they can create a culture of
learning in their community.
In a learning center in Gosai Mat(Dhanarua block, Patna )where 3 15-16 year (most
educated youth in community) run a learning center also started teaching their mother.
In a learning center for children in Rohini(Delhi) few mothers came and started learning
as they found the space non-thretening
Youth need partnership and mentoring so they take ownership. Youth are capable of
taking chanrge as long as the model of working with them is based on "Power with" and
not "Power Over"

10. What and How Youth will take
charge and create "culture of
learning" in their communities.
With guidence and mentoring youth are becomeing change agents of their commnunity.
By creating ground level collectives where they get support they can create a culture of
learning in their community.
In a learning center in Gosai Mat(Dhanarua block, Patna )where 3 15-16 year (most
educated youth in community) run a learning center also started teaching their mother.
In a learning center for children in Rohini(Delhi) few mothers came and started learning
as they found the space non-thretening
Youth need partnership and mentoring so they take ownership. Youth are capable of
taking chanrge as long as the model of working with them is based on "Power with" and
not "Power Over"