Ripples: Oct-Dec'17 | YA Newsletter

View this email in your browser GRAMYA MANTHAN WINTER'17 8th Edition of Gramya Manthan took 33 change-makers coming from 25 different cities onto a 10-day immersive journey into the interiors of rural Kutch, Gujarat. The days were spent exploring and understanding the values of Empathy, Service, and Community in the process of coming closer to existing realities of diverse India and understanding their own privileges and self. The service learning projects were held in 4 villages on themes of Education, Personal health and hygiene and Sanitation, Community Engagement. To add to our energies, we were joined by mentors like Jayesh Patel (Manav Sadhna), Sushma Iyengar (KMVS, Kutch), Dev Tayde (Ananth Zamir Fellowship), Ujwal Thakar (Ex-CEO Pratham, Give India), Smita Navarre (Drishti) and Kalyan Banerjee (Co-founder, Mindtree). The program was organized in partnership with Safai Vidyalaya and ESI. Read stories and reflections of our participants on our blog: RIPPLES LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS The program at Shiksharth, Sukma was facilitated by YA from 17th-20th November with its fellows. Placed 15-30 km away from district center the work they are doing often can be synonymised with lonely battles. What emerged for most of the people there was being with each other as a community, listening to common challenges and looking at the future with more hope. Read more...   Glimpses Here. During the program with i-Saksham, Jamui from 21st - 23rd November, the highlight was the team sharing that the next step for their growth was to learn how to take other people along. Read more...   Glimpses Here. ACTION LEARNING SATURDAYS October's Action Learning at Airshed Park, Vasant Kunj with Swechha began with a Vimlendu Jha, founder Swechha sharing about environment and our interconnectedness. Later, the group spent the day getting hands dirty to support the eco-system of the park. Know more... The year was closed reviving the lost form of communication through letters and closing the year writing letter to loved ones. NURTURING THE SPACE  YA Office Warming on 25th November We move into a new space with an intention to be open for all and welcome all to co-own the space. We are imagining the space to be an open space for the alumni to come back, do things that are close to their heart. Glimpses here.. TALKS AND SESSIONS Prakhar Bhartiya from our team was invited to Obama Foundation's Townhall, Delhi with Barack Obama, focusing on building leadership and active citizenship in world. Prakhar was invited to conduct a day-long session on Leadership and Circle of Influence with young Youth Venture fellows at Ashoka, Bangalore. GRATITUDE Acumen At Acumen, they say it is a fellowship for life and nothing demonstrates that better than the fellow'scommunity. From so many cross-pollinations to deeper friendships to peer consulting across projects indicate this. It was such an enriching experience for Youth Alliance team to do a Leadership Development Program at Shiksharth (Sukma) and i-Saksham (Jamui) organizations run by other Acumen Fellows. This New Year as another Acumen India cohort begins its fellowship journey, we express deep gratitude to be a  part of Acumen community and hopes its intensity grows with time. Read more.. TESTIMONY Kalyan Banerjee Co-founder, Mindtree Youth Alliance is trying to fulfill this responsibility to provide direction and purpose to our future nation builders through varied exposure and carefully crafted Immersion programs into some of the diverse building blocks of India. I find the Youth Alliance leaders have an unusual understanding of the challenges that confront us today, and the inspiration to do something about it. Read more.. CHANGE-AGENT SPEAKS Rishabh GM'17 Gramya Manthan provided me a platform where I could interact with like-minded people who are coming together for the common good, where I could visit my real self and explore it within the company of 45 beautiful souls, where I could keep my real self outside for others to see and appreciate or otherwise. Just for once, for those 10 mere days, I wanted to be me and not a reflection of what the society expects me to be. Read more.. Neha GM'17 Dig inside, figure out what you want, you have just hit another milestone, another year has begun. A new calendar rests in the place of another you got used to looking at. Change more than the last number of the dates you are so busy getting accustomed to. Now is the time to make all the difference in your life and maybe that will change the world around you. Because that's exactly what I learnt in the 10 days I spent in Gujarat. Read more... UPCOMING AT YA  1. DIALOGUE with PARENTS:10th Feb   2. SAMVAAD: 23rd- 25th Feb   3. LEADERSHIP  PROGRAM ON SUSTAINABILITY: 25th - 31st March   4.  PADH-YATRA: 13th - 15th April ABOUT US YouthAlliance nurtures empathetic leaders who apply their head, heart, and hands to understand and serve the world to become more equitable, cooperative and sustainable. This is done by designing processes, creating spaces and support communities/organizations to amplify the leadership potential of young people in experiential learning and ethical leadership programs like Gramya Manthan and Leadership Journeys. Copyleft 2018 Youth Alliance Our mailing address is:  B -94, 2nd Floor, Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi