Youth Vikalp Sangam

Youth Vikalp Sangam

3–5 Feb

Poornodaya Centre, Bhopal

WHAT:

A gathering of 70 people from youth led & youth work organisations working on alternatives. To understand and discuss the alternatives framework of Vikalp Sangam and how to make it youth-centric.

INSIGHTS:

· Importance for a framework on alternatives — political tool to choose which organisations and efforts to align with, guiding tool for which areas/values one needs to expand work, limiting tool for too much specialisation in one area without development in other areas, in other words holistic impact

· Values at the centre of framework, values binds people and organisations

· If such a framework and alternatives are exposed to young people, it will be natural for them to work towards them in their later life

· To structure your learning focus on competencies to be developed, then align them to your context and goals

· Storytelling — need for a relatable character, contrasting villain, plot twists, 3 act structures. One line stories are fun to begin with. A small personal storytelling exercise is a great way to introduce people in a workshop

· Frameworks — constitution, vikalp sangam, others

· A framework can become too broad that someone with conflicting values can also claim party to it, or become too narrow to exclude many people. Need for well-worked definitions

· Language has great power, giving words to experiences gives power to mold and reshape them

QUESTIONS:

· How to expose more and more young people to alternatives?

· How to make alternatives fun and connected to overall life of young people, beyond just hard-core ‘good’ work?

APPLICATION:

· I felt really connecting solidarity. It re-instated my belief in the journey of alternatives. “I am here for coming 50 years.”