By Youth Alliance:Â
In a time when the education ecosystem has become a factory manufacturing semi-employable products who seek nothing other than security, status and success to involuntarily become a part of the bigger problem- comes the pioneering attempt of Youth Alliance, a Delhi-based social enterprise, to introduce ripples of change within the college ecosystem and transform universities into a collaborative space for empathic youth leaders. “Such is the ideology behind ONUS, a year-long exploration-cum-leadership journey envisioning to build a movement of young, brilliant minds from the University of Delhi who are equipped to drive change and meet the challenge of solving India’s myriad problems”, says Prakhar Bhartiya, co-founder of Youth Alliance.
Created with a mission to harness the potential of India’s young leaders, Youth Alliance has been actively functioning in this space for 3 years now. “India has the largest population of youth in the entire world and we, at Youth Alliance, are building this movement to identify young individuals who have a spark to think innovatively for the larger social good. We conduct leadership programs where university students and young professionals get experiential exposure in both urban and rural space to identify their unique way of making a difference to the world. With ONUS, we’re now taking this engagement to colleges and directly nurturing the change-agents of today”, says Shashank Kalra, an alumnus of Hindu College who has been working with Youth Alliance for two years now.
“ONUS gives the students an opportunity to think differently and to think what is truly important to lead a meaningful life.” – Shaheen Mistry, Founder & CEO, Teach For India.
So, how does ONUS actually do this? It does so by creating a personal space, which nurtures young individuals with potent ideas, creativity and passion, and provides them a journey with a heart, that trails through a path of workshops, excursions, community projects, leadership forums, knowledge based sessions and experiential learning modules designed over three trimesters to leave one aware, enabled and empowered or as Youth Alliance likes to put it, “creating empathic youth leaders with a harmonious Head, Heart and Hands.”
ONUS is based out of two nodal college centres of the University of Delhi (Hindu College North Campus and Jesus and Mary College South Campus) in cohorts of 25 change-agents each and is currently accepting applications from all the students studying at the University of Delhi. The journey of ONUS is one that will run in coordination with college curriculum and timings through the year and will be flexibly scheduled with semester examinations. It’ll move from focusing on ‘Self and Community’ to getting down and dirty with ‘Hands-on Exploration’ and will finally take flight with potent ideas in the form of ‘Student-Âpreneurship’ over the course of the three trimesters respectively.
ONUS will also see the mentorship and guidance of eminent leaders like Anshu Gupta (Founder, Goonj), Ravi Gulati (Founder, Manzil), Shaheen Mistry (CEO, Teach For India) and Venkat Krishnan (Founder, Give India) and the support of established entities like Google for Entrepreneurs and Unniti Foundation India. “Not just a piece of cloth, and Chuppi Todo campaigns in association with Goonj to spread awareness on the availability of sanitary pads in large parts of rural India and the issues thereof; along with the stigma that it carries in urban boundaries”, are just a few examples of the community projects that the ONUS journey entails.
The final round for applying to ONUS has a deadline of 17th August. Spaces are limited! To know more about ONUS, Youth Alliance or other details about the program trimester structure, need-Âbased scholarships, visit here, or reach out at Â9873427669 or Â7838072999.
It’s time to listen to yourself, don’t you think? Explore, dream, discover the onus on you.