2022 was quite the year, and as it comes to a close, all of us at Youth Ki Awaaz want to thank you for joining us in breaking the culture of silence and encouraging one to speak up. Thanks to the YKA community, in 2022, we were able to grow steadfastly and invest in the future of what democratic, community-owned public media might look like. Below is a recap of the same:
Key highlights: Long-term gains for a culture of speaking up
In 2022, Youth Ki Awaaz successfully launched several campaigns on issues that lie at the heart of critical issues such as climate change, access to education for girls, breaking taboos on sexual and reproductive health and rights in India, and a lot more.
- Through Youth Ki Awaaz’s #KakshaCrisis campaign, we were able to highlight the challenges and opportunities that the New Education Policy may pose for young girls to access education. We enabled hundreds of young people to join the conversation and contribute meaningfully to the dialogue. In 2023, we will be taking this a step further and enabling 10 young people from across the country to start their own initiatives to bridge the gaps for access to education for young girls.
- Youth Ki Awaaz’s #ZeroSeHero campaign opened up a new platform for young people to engage directly with political leaders working on climate change, and help strengthen India’s climate policy – both at the center, and at the state. More than 8 decision makers, including Members of Parliament and senior bureaucrats engaged with YKA on these dialogues.
- Youth Ki Awaaz ran multiple writer’s training programs that identified over 250 young changemakers from across the country working on access to justice, education for young girls, climate change and a lot more. We also trained them on using storytelling and writing to create an impact around them.
- We also went a step further and towards the end of 2022, launched the first edition of our Campus Bloggers Program across campuses in India to create a space for thousands of young students to write, share and create impact on issues that they care about. So far, over 200 students have joined the community in just 30 days, and we’re excited to take this across India’s campuses in 2023.
Adding to the culture of writing, for, of and by the youth
Youth Ki Awaaz stands for the fact that writing is the first step to speaking up. This year, we doubled down on our mission of creating a culture of writing – and breaking the meritocracy associated with the same.
By launching dedicated segments on writing tips, sending regular buckets of warmth and motivation to our writers, creating pop culture memes depicting various facets of a writer’s life, and simplifying writing on issues ranging from disability rights to a regular movie review, we aided the culture and capabilities of writing, for writers on YKA and everyone across the world.
We also added to our mission of democratising communities by creating a package on self-editing your work. This was done with an intention of adding to the capabilities of YKA writers and anyone who wants to upskill themselves in the field of writing.
In 2023, we will be democratising YKA even more. More power to you.
And 2022 did stand out…
- This year, more than 40,000 new writers joined the platform, reaching millions more readers.
- Out of these, more than 500 writers wrote on issues that have never been highlighted or talked about in the Indian media and social media landscape.
- Out of these, more than 50 writers created on-ground impact – either through viral stories creating mass awareness, starting dialogues and civic discourse, or through ones that contributed to policymaking in India.
- And while so many joined hands in creating a culture of speaking up, over 18 million people aided the movement by consuming and disseminating the information and experiences curated by our 140K strong community. YKA content across platforms reached over 50 million people.
- We also joined hands with Daily Hunt, India’s largest distribution platform, to take YKA community’s stories to over 350 million people.
In 2022, hundreds of everyday citizens went on to tell their stories to create an impact that altered their life in a significant way.
Prateek shared a story on YKA where he and his sister, Prerana, questioned campaigning political party workers in their colony about their broken road. It went viral and triggered action. Today, the road is fixed. Kavya wrote about Vizag’s Rushikonda beach from the lens of a disabled visitor, and the administration responded to her on YKA, and they’re trying to right the wrong. It also truly showed the power of community because hundreds of citizens started sharing similar stories across social media and created a furore for change.
2022 also saw 3 YKA members winning awards, gaining recognition for their stories. They were awarded the prestigious Laadli Media & Advertising Awards for their stories on the YKA platform. Rayees Ramzan from Kashmir published this video about menstrual taboos in the valley. Saumya Jyotsna wrote about the identity of female priests and how patriarchy plays a role in diminishing their identities. And Surabhi Singh wrote about unequal pay for the female labour workforce.
This is only the beginning of the impact these stories have created.
Strengthening internally, not just externally
This year was also very special for YKA because, in our journey of breaking the culture of silence, we kickstarted into a few new areas:
- YKA setup its own policy team to create even more impact through steady engagement with decision-makers.
- In 2022, we sent 10 proposals to 10 state governments on how they can better their climate policies.
- We also created 4 climate resource papers and information products for the state of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Gujarat.
- Through YKA’s #PolicyParCharcha initiative with Ms.Supriya Sahu, a leading think tank collaborated with the state of Tamil Nadu to design a young professionals program.
- We also submitted 4 questions to the Indian parliament for the winter session of 2022.
What’s next in 2023? Overcoming challenges and what lies ahead
As we enter our 15th year in 2023, we are taking it a notch higher – by taking YKA to the core of the country. New campaigns, new collaborations, new programs, and coming back with the older ones even stronger: that’s what 2023 at YKA looks like.
In 2023, Youth Ki Awaaz will prioritize democratizing its media model a lot more. We will be working with young changemakers to start completely community-owned state and city chapters of YKA across the country.
We will also be strengthening our policy work and mainstreaming the idea behind policy engagement across India’s campuses in collaboration with students as well as decision-makers.
2023 will also see us doubling down on the readership the writers receive, as well as increasing the overall number of writers on the platform.
Here’s to growing Youth Ki Awaaz, and here’s to amplifying YOUR voice.
It’s been a beautiful year for us, at YKA as we inched closer to our mission of building a culture of speaking up. We truly cannot wait to witness the marvel Indian youth creates in 2023.