In 1993, a small seed was planted with a big dream with the intent to create safe spaces for adolescents and youth to form their own opinions and worldviews, and to bring about change within themselves and the society around them.
By empowering young people to drive change within themselves and their communities, they could inspire positive changes from the ‘Self to Society.’
Pravah was founded to address a critical gap in the traditional education system, which, while preparing youth for careers, often fails to equip them with the essential skills needed to navigate life's complexities. To bridge this gap, Pravah is dedicated to nurturing lifelong learners by imparting these crucial skills during the formative years of adolescence and young adulthood.
At the core of Pravah's philosophy is a commitment to youth-centric development. We believe every young person has the potential to lead, and our mission is to unlock this potential. In a society that often underestimates the power of youth, Pravah aims to shift the narrative, empowering young people to drive the development their communities need.
This is Pravah's story—a journey that began with a simple intent and has evolved into a powerful movement for youth empowerment and societal change.
Throughout this journey, we have continuously asked ourselves critical questions: How can we integrate the approach of lifelong learning and active citizenship into the mainstream education system? Are the people (teachers, trainers, youth workers) around young individuals equipped to nurture questioning, self-aware youth? How can we empower more young people to become changemakers as social entrepreneurs? How can we support more organizations in balancing power with young people in their interventions? How can we make youth-centric development a nationwide agenda?
This ongoing process of action and reflection has guided Pravah in becoming a lifelong learner, continuously evolving to address these pressing questions and advance youth leadership.
All of this has been possible and continues to be possible through powerful collaborations, strong friendships, and a constantly growing crew of co-voyagers.
Student Mobilisation Initiative for Learning through Exposure, a life-changing rural immersion within leading grassroots organisations for college students, now running across 5 states has transformed thousands of young people into youth leaders. (S.M.I.L.E was incubated by IGSSS).
An inside-out active citizenship learning journey for adolescents which has inspired hundreds of young people to lead the community action projects.
Friendship UdaNkhatola have taken thousands of adolescents from private schools in Delhi straight into a rural atmosphere for 7 days of adventure, learning and an awe inspiring take of real India.
A 6-month culture dive in rural U.K. and India where young leaders from both the countries complete community action projects in partnership with their host NGOs. They live in homes of local community members, and this helps reset their biases and stereotypes (Ran until 2018 in another version - International Citizenship Service).
Pre-service and in-service teachers are capacitated to design & facilitate a curriculum to create adolescent-empowering classrooms.
An annual youth-led festival that uses powerful artistic mediums to spread peace, hope & harmony in the country.
One of our longest-running initiatives for seeding, mentoring and nurturing almost 800 early stage social entrepreneurs working on issues of Gender, Education, Climate Action, Diversity and Inclusion (Ashoka Innovators for the Public was an incubating partner).
Collectivisation of 100+ youth centric organisations across the country into a powerful force and important voice for change in the youth development sector. (SRTT provided seed funding).
Two decades of learning from youth work consolidated into an iconic national and international learning voyage for youth facilitators based on the publication of our book by the same name.
A space that exists beyond and between the 4 legitimate spaces occupied by youth i.e, Family, Friends, Education/ Career and Recreation. It's a co-led space of self-to-society journeys where the rules are set by young people. It nurtures social inclusion, holistic development and fosters social hope by promoting feelings of freedom, ownership, love and learning.
Co-building agency in thousands of rural and urban adolescents and youth such that they can take their own life decisions on crucial issues (including marriage).
Pravah along with UNFPA and corporates like Castrol, HSBC and HCL Foundation realised the need for building employability beyond trade skills and joined the skilling mission in the niche area of life skills to nurture efficient, effective, happy and preferred young employees.
A journey to bring the ‘sanstha’ (organisation) alive by equipping senior leaders to not only focus on external strategies but also strengthen internal systems. Capacitating them to solve critical internal challenges- setting up a second line, building a culture of shared leadership and robust fundraising and HR capabilities.
Pravah sets-up in four other states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana and Rajasthan, expanding our partnerships and impacting youth from diverse communities to realise their leadership potential.
Pravah provides knowledge and training to equip organisations with resources and skills to further youth-centric development
