The Young Warriors Movement aims to engage over 5+ million youth with the right information and resources to fight the spread of COVID-19 and accelerate a return to normalcy
New Delhi, May 10, 2021: Young people, with the support of UNICEF, YuWaah, and over 100 Coalition Partners across Government, Civil Society, UN Agencies, and Private Sector, have activated the #YoungWarrior Movement. This will catalyse a pan-India movement to engage five million young warriors to take a lead in India’s battle against COVID-19.
Announcing the activation of the movement, Dr. Yasmin Ali Haque, UNICEF Representative in India and Co-Chair of YuWaah said, “A devastating second wave of COVID-19 is sweeping across India, and young people have taken on an urgent call to action in the fight against it. YuWaah, as a multi[1]stakeholder coalition, is ideally positioned to meaningfully partner with these young people to combat COVID-19 with the knowledge they need to keep their families and neighbourhoods safe.”
Ravi Venkatesan, UNICEF’s global Special Representative of Young People added: “UNICEF has assembled a powerful ecosystem of partners from civil society, government and private sector who are coming together in an extraordinary way to support the #YoungWarrior movement. We hope to convincingly demonstrate that young people want to lead and are capable of great leadership.”
Pledging support to the movement, Joint Secretary Padmaja Singh , Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said, “The #YoungWarrior movement is timely to receive support from young people on COVID-19 response, given the start of 18 plus vaccination. We believe young people can lead the way in ensuring the safety of their communities, get vaccinated, and encourage communities to sustain COVID Appropriate Behaviours.”
The #YoungWarrior movement, led by young people, will see them mobilize, connect, learn, lead, influence, and take action to accelerate the response and return to normalcy. Debarati Ganguly, a member of the YuWaah Young People’s Action Team (YPAT) said, “We are leading this national movement and we will motivate our peers to join us and share the correct information on COVID Appropriate Behaviours, access accurate information on health and essential services, and encourage eligible family members and neighbours for vaccine registration”. Krunal Shah, also a member of YPAT said that “This pandemic is also more severe for vulnerable populations, especially adolescent girls and women and people with disabilities. We bring the passion and energy for equity into the Young Warrior movement. I believe this will inspire more youth like us and partners to come on board begin to see the positive change for millions of families across the country!”
The coalition of partners will support the young warriors with the essential tools and resources and an extensive campaign and outreach through youth groups, field partners, social media, and other mass media like TV, community radios, etc., The Young Warriors will not only secure their families but will also reach out and motivate other young people and families in their neighbourhoods.
The engagement model is built as a series of learning resources, tasks, quizzes, etc., and will be available both on an IVR-based platform and a technology-based chat-bot platform called U-Report (developed by UNICEF) – this multi-modal approach will enable youths from across the spectrum to participate in this campaign.
The #YoungWarrior movement also aims to facilitate safe spaces for other young people to talk about their challenges, including peer networks, counseling, and mentoring services with the help of experts.
Young people can join the movement by taking a #YoungWarrior pledge at yuwaah.org/becomeayoungwarrior or giving a missed call to +91-80-66019225
About YuWaah
YuWaah is a multi-stakeholder platform that aims to prepare young people to transition from education and learning to productive work and active citizenship. It was formed by UNICEF, together with public and private sector partners, UN Agencies, civil society organisations, foundations and young people as the Generation Unlimited (GenU) partnership in India. By 2030, in India YuWaah aims to:
i. Build pathways to aspirational socio-economic opportunities for 100 million young people
ii. Facilitate 200 million young people to gain relevant skills for productive lives and the future of work
iii. Partner with 300 million young people as change makers and create spaces for developing their leadership.
Launched in 2019 by the Honourable Minister for Women and Children’s Development, Smriti Irani, YuWaah also received strong words of encouragement from the Honourable Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi in the form of a letter of support. Follow YuWaah on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. For more information, visit www.yuwaah.org
About UNICEF
UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. More than 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone. For more information about UNICEF and its work for children, visit www.unicef.org.
For UNICEF India, visit us on http://unicef.in/ and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Follow UNICEF on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
UNICEF India relies on the support and donations from businesses and individuals to sustain and expand health, nutrition, water and sanitation, education and child protection programmes for all girls and boys in India. Support us today to help every child survive and thrive! www.unicef.in/donate
About Generation Unlimited
Generation Unlimited – currently hosted by UNICEF – is a global partnership working to prepare young people to become productive and engaged citizens. It connects secondary-age education and training to employment and entrepreneurship, empowering every young person to thrive in the world of work. Follow Generation Unlimited on Twitter and Instagram
About U-Report
U-Report India is a free tool for community participation designed to address issues that the population most cares about. Once a U-Reporter has followed @UReportIndia on Twitter or Liked U[1]Report India Facebook Page, polls and alerts are sent via Direct Message, and real-time responses are collected and mapped on this site.
For more information, please contact:
Dhruv Arora, Lead, Communications & Advocacy, YuWaah Tel: 9999115826 E-mail: darora@yuwaah.org
Sonia Sarkar, Communication Officer (Media) Tel: +91-981 017 0289 E-mail: ssarkar@unicef.org
