Projects

Over half of India’s population is below the age of 25. Their perceptions and ideas - not just their labour - will shape the country’s future. It is in this context that CPR set up the CPR Youth Awards, a program designed to interact, collaborate and mentor young men and women across the country to understand what their concerns, their perceptions of the environment and society, and to help them take steps towards addressing problems they are motivated to solve. Tapping into CPR’s network of NGO partners, they worked with youth groups aged 18-25 in three locations: Mangolpuri, a resettlement colony in north-west Delhi; Keonjhar, a tribal region in Odisha; and in peri-urban Jaipur. Over 3 months, facilitators from partner NGOs - Baliga Trust, Nehru Yuva Kendra and KIRDTI - worked with our Founder, Swati Janu, to design and execute programs in these three locations involving intensive workshops to help youth groups articulate problem statements and impart to them design-thinking, research and presentation skills.

The groups used smartphones to create short videos documenting their projects. For example, in Keonjhar, young men and women petitioned Block Development Offices to help implement their ideas on improving agricultural productivity. In Mangolpuri, one group is formed support groups online for girls facing sexual violence while in Jaipur, teams explored pathways to more effective local governance in areas like waste management. Showcasing the best projects at the CPR Dialogues, the real takeaway has been the importance of placing young people at the centre of conversations, innovations and interventions.