TERI's Youth Programmes for Leadership and Sustainability
INTRODUCTION
India is one of the youngest nations in the world having more than 54 percent of its total population below 25 years of age. In order to reap this enormous human dividend, India needs to equip its youth with employable skills, knowledge and the right values. Towards this end, Environmental Education and Awareness (EEA) area at TERI has been persistently working across India to educate, empower and engage youth from higher educational institutes on issues pertaining to sustainable development. Over 500 colleges and universities are a part of the EEA network.
International Networks
- EEA is a lead Member of the RCE (Regional Centre of Expertise) of United Nations University (UNU) in Delhi, Goa and Mumbai and partner in the International RCE UNU -Institute of Advanced Studies network.
- EEA is one of the UNESCO Key Partners of the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD for the Priority Action Area 4- empowering & mobilizing youth.
EEA's youth programmes
Youth Unite for Voluntary Action (YUVA) Meet
TERI's flagship program - YUVA Meet - is a platform on trending themes of socio-enviro importance, held annually at New Delhi, India since 2009. Over the years, this programme has been supported by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, GOI, British Council and other international bodies.
YUVA Meet is the only event of its kind in India that brings together youth from a wide range of fields across India and other countries on a common platform for a common cause. It provides the participants opportunities to communicate and collaborate with corporates, think tanks, NGOs, development practitioners, industry experts, artists, and entrepreneurs among others. As a run up to the meet, youth seminars are organized in 7 selected states every year on a sub theme of the larger theme of the event, reaching out to over a 1000 students across the country. Selected participants among them get a chance to participate in the forthcoming YUVA meet at New Delhi.
LEADearthSHIP
Another youth programme initiated by EEA is project, LEADearthSHIP. Launched in 2014, the programme focuses on leadership and business sustainability. This programme is for students as well as young professionals. The mainstay of this initiative includes a yearlong LEADearth fellowship and Campus Impact Challenge. Some of the key outcomes of phase III of this project include-10 sustainability projects implemented by 30 LEADearth Fellows, leadership talks by inspirational speakers, 14 Campus Impact campaigns implemented in Delhi and NCR, robust social media presence and a short film under production to be used for further sensitization and awareness on the project. The project has successfully reached out to over a lakh stakeholders.
The Inter-University Competition on Water Resources Management
A pan India Programme undertaken by EEA, The Inter-University Competition on Water Resources Management' under the aegis of project, "Strengthening Water and Sanitation in Urban Settings" has had a pan India impact reaching out to undergraduate students and academicians in 18 states of India. This programme implemented from 2014 -2016 has been successful in engaging 75 higher education institutes to develop a multi stakeholder, implementable, practical, sustainable and cost-effective proposal ideas on water and sanitation issues.
10 shortlisted teams competed at the National competition held in January 2016 at New Delhi. One of the national finalists was the team from G.V.M.S GGPR College of Commerce & Economics, Ponda, Goa whose proposal idea focused on sustainable rejuvenation, maintenance of watershed and allied activities and imparting practical environmental training for conservation and preservation of nature in the state of Goa. Despite not securing an award, the team has been able to secure partial Government support to implement their proposal idea.
This programme has been successful in reaching out to 2,00,000 students, academicians, government officials and civil society organizations.