YOUTH LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

YOUTH EQUITY FORUM

CSEI evolved the Youth Equity Forums (YEF) as inclusive safe spaces where young people from diverse marginalized communities converge, communicate, and collaborate in their journey from ‘self to society’ affirming their identity, experiential learning, and appreciative inquiry.

CSEI initiated its youth work in 2011 in Bihar promoting community-level youth groups and a Bihar state forum called the Bihar Ambedkar Students Forum (BASF). The process was taken to Delhi (Delhi Youth Equity Forum) and Uttar Pradesh (UP Youth Equity Forum) in 2018. Youth equity forums (YEFs) provide leadership spaces and opportunities for young people from marginalized communities to work on their career development and growth (youth development) and promote the development of their communities (youth4development). Selected youth fellows are provided a ‘fellowship’ and build their cohort and community for influence. As state-level forums, they can take up contextual issues and build collective processes to influence policies. The YEF is currently in the process of collectivization into the National Youth Equity Forum (NYEF).

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The YEF fellows commit to:

• Not dropping out of education before graduation

•  Not being married before 18/21 years

• Payback to society and community

• Contribute to an inclusive society based on Constitutional values

Currently, BASF has 25 fellows, the DYEF has 11 fellows and the UPYEF 22 fellows. Together they reach out to 400 cohort members across 39 habitations.

National Youth Equity Forum

A national collective of Dalit (SCs), Adivasi (STs), nomadic tribes (NTs/DNTs), socially excluded Muslim and other marginalized youth led state collectives/forums towards nurturing their leadership based on the principle of self to society.

Delhi Youth Equity Forum

Working in Delhi (NCR) towards empowering the socially excluded young people to achieve their full potential and through them enable an equitable and inclusive space to find the rightful place in youth development. Our main aim is to spread the value of Equity mainly in Delhi. Educating and organizing with the youth of socially excluded community (SC/ST, MUSLIM, NT/DNTS) towards youth development and youth for development, with the modal of SELF, SOCIETY & GOVERNANCE.

U. P. Youth Equity Forum

The Uttar Pradesh Youth Equity Forum (UPYEF) fosters equal opportunities for socially excluded youth, emphasizing Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's principles of "Educate, Agitate, and Organize." With 22 fellows and 800 members, UPYEF advocates for inclusive policies, democratizing education, and empowering marginalized groups. The Social Inclusion Fellowship focuses on leadership, organizational management, and advocacy through a structured curriculum, promoting self-reliant youth leaders and building a more equitable society.