Drew Jensen is Global Citizen’s 2015 Curtis Scholar. The scholarship provides an immersive experience highlighting effective development programs focused on sanitation, girls and women, and education. Drew is traveling with Global Poverty Project staff, meeting key partners and working in India. Below are photos and blog entries from Drew’s journey. This is day 1(change), follow the rest of his trip here.
Greetings from Delhi! I feel as though it almost goes without saying, Day 3 was awesome. Hilary and I spent our morning meeting with Anshul Tewari of Youth Ki Awaaz. In India, the opinions and values of the youth tend to not be given the attention and consideration that they rightfully deserve, simply as a consequence of the traditional Indian social structure.
This is problematic because in a democracy- especially the world's largest, India- the values of all citizens are supposed be given equal weight. Yet the media here often fails to adequately voice the concerns of the younger demographic, and the media is the most crucial component in framing public policy debates in India and pretty much everywhere.
Thus the Indian youth often feels unrepresentated in the public forum and are forced to accept a political agenda that doesn't address the issues they care about. This is a dangerous line to walk, because when people become apathetic toward politics at a young age, they are unlikely to become engaged in the future- and what good is a democracy without citizen participation?
Enter Youth Ki Awaaz.
In 2008, Anshul began the site as an alternative digital news organization based on a model of citizen journalism. Anyone is welcome to submit their work to YKA, and the staff selects pieces to share through the site. The model is very reminiscent of huffington post or elite daily- if only these sites spent less time on pictures of cats and more time on substantive issues. Youth Ki Awaaz articles tend to be focused on issues related to politics, education, sustainability, sanitation, and gender/sexuality.
YKA has been experiencing rapid growth in the last year, as they have more than doubled their staff in recent months and are currently serving more than 2 million users. This massive growth has begun to serve as an outlet for the youth to exercise their political power. In a democracy, if leaders wish to stay in power, they are required to listen when voters unify in large blocks and Youth Ki Awaaz has stepped in to serve as the youth's binding force in their demand to be heard.
Simply by looking to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's massive presence on Twitter and his commitment to sanitation in the form of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan program, we can see that the values of the youth are beginning to come to the forefront of the political conversation. With the voice of the youth being amplified thanks to modern media, India seems poised to take even further action on the issues of education, sanitation, and women's rights.
Here are some of my photos from the day:
Exploring Khan Market.
Endless Khashmir scarves of any color or pattern you can imagine.
Beautiful Dheli street art.
