For the youth, by the youth, of the youth | Feature

While petrol, gas, and water may be hard to come by, organisations trying to effect change are something that is not in shortage throughout Nepal. Every do-gooder organisation has a target group and for more than half, that target group is the country's youth. With so many hearts set out to "do something", the question remains, how many are actually effective? How many are truly impacting youth in a way that will not only affect the future of individuals, but also the future of our new republic? More than half a decade ago, Rajendra Mulmi asked himself the same question. He set out to find the answer, but instead of hope, he found disappointment. "Although the number of youth organisations was large, their scope was rather small," Mulmi tells us, "And almost all of them were completely adult-driven."

He realised that nobody knew how to reach the youth better than the youth. Still being quite young, Mulmi partnered up with some like-minded friends and began a project he parallels to pot-luck. "Everyone brought what they had and before we knew it, we had a whole pot full of something good."

The organisation that started with just Rs 7,000 seven years back, now has an annual operating budget of more than Rs 20 lakh and works with youth in 10 strategic cities throughout Nepal. The overarching aim of Youth Initiative (YI) is for youth to impact youth through three main methods: inform, empower and involve. YI achieves this by creating a space for youth from a variety of sectors to come together for dialogue, leadership training, events, and so forth. It also creates a platform for young minds driven to make a difference to come together and move as a collective force.

YI acknowledges the long-term significance of building networks between non-partisan youth, rising political leaders, and young professionals. Pokhara staff member Samundra Poudel defines this type of networking as the best thing YI has done for him as an individual, "Throughout my time as a participant and now a staff member, Youth Initiative has helped build so many public relations for not only me but for other youths as well. This is one reason I am really proud of what we do."

After years of labour, it's easy to see the fruit of Youth Initiative's work. Active participant and YI volunteer, Ashish Himali is a prime example. Himali recently returned from Cape Town, South Africa where he attended the Annual Bank Conference in Development and Economics sponsored by the World Bank. Out of more than 3,000 essay writers from 148 countries, the conference holders chose Himali's essay on the significance of youth entrepreneurship as one of the eight finalists. Himali submitted the essay under another youth organisation started by past Youth Initiative Award recipient, Jiban Baral. "Youth Initiative was not only something important to me, but it was something important to Jiban, it was the catalyst that enabled him to start his organisation, which then helped me to win the contest and go to the conference in South Africa," says Himali.

Youth Initiative plans to impact the youth and future of Nepal for a long-time coming. For more information on ways you can get involved, check out their website at www.youthinitative.org.np.