Youngistaan Foundation has been conducting projects since 2012 to create change in areas that young people have identified as areas of concern to them. From eradicating homelessness to promoting gender equality, Youngistaan Foundation focuses on ground-level engagement to transform the lives of people in India. Browse through our programs below and click on any of the images to read about the program in greater detail.
Hunger affects millions of people in India, causing severe health complications and even death. We have served the needs of people suffering with hunger and starvation by: distributing 2,300,000 home-made meals to the poor and collecting extra food from restaurants, hotels, weddings and other ceremonies. We work with existing government agencies and civilian services to save extra food and convert it to a food supply for the poor.
People living on the streets (1.7 to 3 million) are one of the most overlooked and neglected people in India. We fulfill the personal hygiene needs of homeless people by providing: a space for bathing, a haircut, a shave, and a change of clothes, any required first aid, on-ground counselling, access to shelter homes and skill development centers and more. We work to revive the dignity and potential of homeless people.
We have worked with 14,000+ adolescent girls to raise awareness on: child sex abuse (safe touch / unsafe touch), menstrual hygiene awareness, breaking myths around menstruation, distribution of 10,000+ sanitary napkins, public / street harassment, empowered 50+ women with livelihood skills, sponsored the education of 50+ children, LGBTQ+ community empowerment, gender sensitization program with boys and more.
Bright Spark is an out-of- school time program based on social pedagogy principles of ‘genuine care, dignity, and mutual respect’, designed to address the cognitive and affective needs of 300+ underserved and undervalued learners. We currently work with 90 children between the age of 6 and 15 years in 4 different learning pockets across Hyderabad. Our team comprises 30 active volunteer-mentors who implement the program.
Animal Heroes focuses on creating awareness in schools, colleges and to the general public on: stopping animal abuse, responsibility toward strays and pets, animal birth control (ABC) and vaccinating stray animals. We hold interactive discussions as well as painting / other creative arts competitions in schools to ensure that our communities can be safe spaces for humans and animals to co-exist.
We aim to provide a platform for people – especially young people – to be active citizens in our democracy by voicing their opinions about issues that matter to them and to coming up with solutions that will benefit people. In addition to campaigns around election time, we are focused on creating dialogue among young people by organizing sessions on active citizenship in schools, colleges, local communities and other places.
Our emergency response teams mobilize on-ground volunteers to ensure that when natural disasters strike, we do what we can to meet the needs of the people most affected. We have worked to provide relief to the flood-affected in Hyderabad, Kerala, Chennai and Kashmir, the earthquake-affected in Nepal and COVID-19 relief across India for the first wave and the second wave of the pandemic.
We have a database of people who are willing to donate blood, platelets and plasma in case of medical emergencies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this service is of the utmost importance and is saving lives across the country. Even though the number of people donating blood drastically decreased due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, there are still people in need of blood.
It is our aim to build and empower the lives of each of our volunteers with opportunities to develop their skills to prepare them for their careers and futures. We offer volunteers a program to develop their: leadership skills, communication skills, personality development, life skills, career preparation (including resume building and interview skills), basics of money management and mental health.
