The YP Foundation turns 8!

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends & Colleagues,We turn 8 years old today!Over the past 8 years, we have been privileged to have the investment and guidance of some of the most incredible mentors, volunteers, alumni, staff members and partner organizations.

On behalf of the organizational staff, members and Board of Directors, I take this opportunity to express our sincerest appreciation for your encouragement and contribution to the various programs of March 2009- 2010. We are deeply grateful for your support and generosity.

TYPF was founded as The Youth Parliament on July 26, 2002 as a response by young people in schools to the Godhra Riots addressing the growing indifference and apathy amongst youth in urban Delhi. The question we asked ourselves when we began TYPF was - What can we each do to challenge and change this?

Our core focus is on creating programmes and influencing policy in the areas of gender, sexuality, health, education, the arts and governance.Our mission is to promote, protect and advance young people’s human rights by building leadership, and strengthening youth led initiatives and movements.

We were registered as The YP Foundation in August 2007 and have worked with 5,000 young people over the last 8 years, training them as peer educators to set up more than 200 projects in India, reaching out to 300,000 children, adolescents and young people between the ages of 3-28 years.  

We have increased our focus on planning, research and impact evaluation processes, with a strong focus on building a rights-based approach to our work. None of this would have been possible without your commitment.

Youth led movements are sustained by the communities that make organizations like our possible in the long-term. We are now focussing on the long-term direction of our 6 flagship programmes, looking a local and national strategy for each, as we begin working both in Hindi and English.

Our out-of-school education programme, Blending Spectrum, is currently enabling 130 street and slum children to access life skills, formal education and primary hygiene education.

Silhouette, our arts programme, will launch in 2010 its multi-year music education programme for artists, called ‘The Open House Series’.

We have also launched the multi-year ‘Know Your Body, Know Your Rights’ Campaign’, a national and local peer education programme that builds the capacities of young people and youth led organizations across 10 states in India to address Comprehensive Sexuality Education.

The project also hosts the ‘Project 19 Festival’, a National initiative founded in February 2009 that brings together over 600 young people from diverse communities across 10 states of India to address issues of HIV, sexuality, gender and rights.

The Butterfly Project is our film and literature programme that addresses human rights issues with young people through film.

VOICES, The School Project is our in-school education programme that addresses Mental Health and Life Skills issues with adolescents.

The Right to Information Branch, our governance programme, has successfully trained over 200 young people on how to use the RTI Act and assisted over 4000 people register for the 2009 Elections in Chhattisgarh and New Delhi.  

Nationally, we have partnerships with youth activists and youth led/focused organizations in over 10 states across India, spanning Nagaland, Manipur, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Jharkand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal, Bihar, Pondicherry and Kashmir.

Our goal is to collaborate and build technical capacities with our national partners to address and advocate for sexuality education in their own communities as well as nationally. 2009 was the first year where with UNESCO and UNFPA, we were able to provide grants to enable the work being done by young activists in NCR, Bhopal, Maharasthra and Orissa.

Our evaluation mechanism is now a 4-phase system that runs in a project cycle throughout the year from April to March. Each Phase are a series of brainstorming meetings that brings together all volunteers, staff members and board members from across the organization together. As we finalize our strategic planning process we will be getting in touch with many of you for your advice and partnership. We need you - as we take new steps into these new years to engage with the organization, share your expertise and donate to build our institutional capacity.

Last but certainly not the least, our thanks goes to the individuals who have worked with us. We cannot imagine The YP Foundation without your contribution. With the many names that have built TYPF, it is hard to acknowledge each and every person here but in sending this letter to you we want you to know that we think you are invaluable to the work that we do. We would particularly like to remember Purple Malik on this day, our young talented Graphic Designer who passed away earlier in November 2009. We miss her very much.

Thank you very much for everything you have done for us over these past years. We would not exist without the goodwill and friendship of our colleagues and partners, and so this birthday is most definitely shared by all of us collectively.

Warm Regards,Ishita ChaudhryChief Executive Officer on behalf of The Staff & Board of The YP Foundation

Read a detailed account of The YP Foundation's progress this year

The YP Foundation, Address: N 204, Greater Kailash, Part 1, New Delhi – 110048. India.Phone: +91.11.46792243/44, Email: theypfoundation@... Website: www.theypfoundation.org

The YP Foundation thanks Shiv Ahuja and Purple Malik for the Photographs / Artwork used.