Deadline: 06-Sep-20
The Young Leaders for Active Citizenship (YLAC) has launched ‘Counter Speech Fellowship’, with Instagram to engage creative teens to use the power of visual storytelling to start meaningful conversations on issues important to young citizens around the world.
As an incubator for the future generation of leaders and activists, the fellowship is built around three pillars – awareness, support and advocacy. Fellows are mentored to build powerful content and the most inspiring work is promoted on Instagram. The fellowship is designed as a fully funded engagement wherein fellows meet every alternate week for a couple of hours. The overall duration of the fellowship is two months and the schedule is easy to accommodate alongside regular school work and examinations.
This phase is designed as a virtual engagement to accommodate constraints imposed by COVID-19. All sessions will be conducted online and the fellowship is open to teenagers across India. The idea is to use the internet and social media as a force for good by creating unique communities around issues that matter to teenagers, and provide a platform for voicing concerns and advocating for changes.
By giving teens a voice and building their capacity to mobilize people, we hope to create a world that is more inclusive and tolerant. Anchored at the crossroads of arts and advocacy, the fellowship was first launched in 2017 and has since expanded to over 9 cities in India and Nepal.
Themes
The fellowship focuses on six themes:
- Bullying
- Diversity
- Mental Wellbeing
- Body Positivity
- Gender Equality and
- Sustainability
Fellowship Structure
Phase III: October – December 2020
- The fellowship’s online version will include workshop sessions in large groups on alternate Sundays and team mentorship sessions in smaller groups on alternate Thursday/ Friday evenings. Fellows will attend one workshop session and one team mentorship session every fortnight.
- Outside the sessions, fellows will be expected to create content on the themes allocated to them. This work will be done in teams through remote collaboration during the intervening weeks.
Pillars of Fellowship
During the two-month long fellowship, fellows will run campaigns to generate momentum for change while focusing on the three core pillars of the fellowship:
- Awareness: – Building awareness is the first step in any campaign. It starts with educating oneself, conversing with others and removing taboos.
- Support: – The fellowship themes are issues that have, in some form or the other, affected most teenagers. Any call for mobilization must therefore begin with empathy and an extension of support to those who have been adversely affected.
- Advocacy: – The fellowship is a powerful platform for teenagers to reach out to key decision makers such as policymakers, educators and parents to get their opinions heard and advocate for better support systems for teenagers.
Selection Process
- They look for passionate, spirited, creative, empathetic and committed teen leaders who wish to see the world as a more inclusive and kind place. There are no prerequisites in terms of fields of study. The final evaluation of applicants is based on their responses to the questions in a short application form.
For more information, visit https://theylacproject.com/counter-speech-fellowship/