People Centric Activism

"I am glad to know that the CYDA is entering its 10th year on the 10th of January. I am however sorry to let you know that it would be impossible for me to come on the said date, since I am in Mumbai on the 10th and continuously in the Narmada valley after that …two key official committees are coming and other large gatherings are planned It was good to have Rohan, Aditya, Ravi and other exposure students from CYDA who both learnt and contributed to ongoing tasks. We wish CYDA and its members/students all the very best. Once again all the best...and forge ahead with the right combination of commitment, hard work, research and informative people-centric activism."

Medha Patkar

"It has been a month since I returned from India, and my heart is still in India. I must thank you most sincerely for the time and wonderful information and experience you provided to our group, during our visit with CYDA. In fact, each of the social work students has stated that her time with CYDA was either THE most valuable, or one of the most valuable, parts of the trip.
In no way did you or your team disappoint us; in fact, all the visits and discussions were most valuable. For example, although I was not able to join in the visit with the Nepalese workers living in the bus, that experience enriched our understanding of international worker migration. The policy questions arise: are the workers being abused, misused, by the middlemen? Or, even if the middle men make some money, are the young men happy and/or better off, to have a job in a tea stall, and friends, in Pune, and can they send money home to Nepal, or would they be better, living "at home"? -- Of course, the question has implications for individual empowerment, international law, ethics, and many topics.
I have often spoken about the way your college-based youth groups work with youth groups in such places as the one we visited. The informal presentation of the street drama on the role of girls/ women, and the informal discussion of how the youths' parents feel about their participation, were very meaningful to all of us. "

Linda Groetzinger
USA

"I wanted to write and send you a big thank you for hosting myself and Shobha at CYDA.. It was a fascinating visit for us, and we both learned a lot and got a lot of ideas from talking with you and observing your programs. I hope you consider our invitation for both staff and participants from CYDA to come and be a part of our training program for our Student Ambassadors (similar to your Youth4Changers). We would love to host you here and have you facilitate a session or two during our training, and I think this would be a great mutual learning experience. Let me know what you think.
Looking forward to working with you further, "

Liza Fouksman, Vidya Poshak
Bangalore

"My time at CYDA was truly life-changing. As an intern from Australia, I had the opportunity to work on the 'Youth for Earth Care' project and the facilitation of a Youth Summit for Earth Care, involving 500 local students as part of a week-long festival. The people at CYDA were very compassionate and thoughtful, and I really appreciate having had the opportunity to be involved in so many aspect of the organization. I wish all the best for the 10th Anniversary Celebrations"

James Ward
Australia