By Surya Tej Borra
The World Alliance for Youth Empowerment, under the patronage of The Art of Living Foundation, is working towards empowering youth physically, spiritually, economically and socially. WAYE enables the youth to tackle problems faced by themselves and the society. The various activities undertaken by WAYE include global conferences to special youth events, university programs, service projects etc.
The World Alliance for Youth Empowerment, under the patronage of The Art of Living Foundation, is working towards empowering youth physically, spiritually, economically and socially. WAYE enables the youth to tackle problems faced by themselves and the society. The various activities undertaken by WAYE include global conferences to special youth events, university programs, service projects etc.
WAYE’s vision for every youth is to enjoy a violence-free society, a stress-free mind, a disease-free body, and an inhibition-free intellect, which according to WAYE are the universal birthrights of all human beings.
WAYE, inspired by His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji was founded in 2006 by two young IITians Khurshed Batliwala and Dinesh Ghodke, with the objective of all round development and empowerment of the youth.
WAYE is a Youth-Oriented Community Development organization. It works with the youth, their families, communities, corporates, organizations and governments to bring about positive change and sustainable development. One of the most powerful assets of the society is the youth; so building capacity of the youth is fast emerging as the most critical need of our times and this what WAYE specializes in.
Mission
• To promote Education and Awareness to enable youth realize their self-identified aspirations;
• To offer other sustainable and effective solutions to address youth related issues through participation and collaborations;
• To influence key systems, institutions & policies to inspire responsibility & human values among youth for social change.
WAYE has consolidated the focus areas of the youth work into 7 primary themes like Leadership Training, Humanitarian Service, Environmental Responsibility, Overcoming Substance Abuse, Eliminating Stress and Youth Employment, Female Feticide and HIV/ AIDS.
Involving youth and the masses has required an inclusive participatory approach where youth can be engaged through avenues like Entertainment ( music, dance , theatre), Fine Arts ( poetry, painting, film making),Sports, Technology, Entrepreneurship and Education and finally Empowerment.
WAYE is now active in 40 cities in India and in 30 countries globally, WAYE is continually extending the reach and scale of its impact on youth through a multitude of different avenues.
Activities
Designed to accelerate their physical, emotional, spiritual, economic and intellectual growth is the flagship program of WAYE, the Youth Empowerment & Skills (YES!+) workshop. YES!+ is a multi-dimensional life skills program proffered to the age group of 18-30years.
WAYE also conducts the highly energetic ‘Summer Magic’ and the ‘Winter Break’ programs which attracts thousands of youth from world over. It is a time when young people look forward to come, participate and relax.
With projects ranging from cleaning up streets, river and ponds, to sensitizing medical practitioners against female feticide, to planting trees to combat global warming, WAYE, has garnered many enrichment models and programs featuring youth as the catalysts for community-driven development and socio-economic change.
