Delhi-based Rohit Kumar (Harvard) and Aparajita Bharti (Oxford) are the highly qualified co-founders of Young Leaders for Active Citizenship (YLAC) India, a social enterprise offering youth short-term programmes in public policy research and implementation. YLAC’s High School Achievers Programme is designed for secondary school students (classes IX-XII) while the Policy in Action Programme is for undergrad students and professionals in the 18-28 age group. 

Newspeg. Last month, YLAC conducted active citizenship summer programmes for 85 high school students in Delhi and Mumbai.

History. An alumnus of IIT-Bombay and Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, Kumar was head of policy in the office of Jay Panda, M.P (member of Parliament) and former researcher at Delhi-based think tank PRS Legislative Research where Bharti was a LAMP (legislative assistant to member of Parliament) fellow. Former colleagues, Kumar and Bharti — the latter also served a one-year stint with JD(U) M.P, N.K. Singh — conceptualised and designed YLAC in 2015 and rolled out its inaugural programme last June. 

“During our stints in PRS and with the MPs, we became aware that the majority of youth in urban India have scant knowledge and experience of the socio-economic challenges confronting the country. We discerned the need for an experiential programme which would enable youth to develop a better understanding of their society, broaden their perspective, develop their leadership skills and equip them to translate learning into action by undertaking live projects. The objective is to motivate young people to become active agents of change in their communities,” says Kumar. 

The three-four week High School Achievers programme involves classroom sessions and internships with live projects of NGOs in Delhi and Mumbai. The programme fee is Rs.28,000 per participant. 

USP. “The unique feature of our programmes is that they are experiential. For instance, in our Policy in Action Programme, we train undergrads in policy analysis, public leadership and advocacy campaign design, and provide them the experience of working on a live project for a member of Parliament. We believe our programmes enable young people to develop critical thinking and analytical skills, teach them to mobilise people by communicating effectively to drive social change,” says Bharti, former manager, corporate affairs and communications at Snapdeal and currently a consultant with Catalyst, a joint initiative of USAID and the Central government.

Future plans. With the demand for YLAC’s programme growing, the duo has drawn up plans to introduce new customised programmes such as ‘Science and Society’ for high schoolers to help them discover how science is shaping society. “We also intend to take our programmes to more cities and are in talks with schools and higher ed institutions. The country needs talented young people with the capability and passion to design and implement public policies,” says Kumar.

Right on!

Autar Nehru (Delhi)