About IST

IST works with young people through its three initiatives, namely Buniyaad (Youth Perspective Development on Constitutional Values), Udaan (Last-mile Education Governance), and Conflictorium (Participatory museum for discourse-building through Art and Culture) in Gujarat and Chhattisgarh.

Buniyaad engages with young girls and boys from disadvantaged communities in 13 blocks of 7 districts of Gujarat, strengthening their leadership and active citizenship by facilitating their learning and leadership journeys around social perspective, orientation of constitutional values & civic actions. Through youth-oriented work, IST also equips the youth with relevant skilling and livelihood training to enter the workforce through wage employment or self-employment, holistically equipping the youth to interface and negotiate with the state and the market.

Udaan works on improving the last-mile delivery of education through government schools in Gujarat.

IST also runs two participatory museums focusing on arts and cultural practices related to conflict (self and societal) and engages largely with youth from urban backgrounds.

about

STRATEGIES

Developing young leaders who uphold constitutional values and contribute to strengthening democratic processes.

  • Nurturing and facilitating value-based leadership among 600 YCLs through Youth Facilitators
  • Building Camaraderie and positive relationship through diverse alliances among YCLs and youth associated with them

Equipping young individuals with relevant skills and opportunities to pursue self-determined livelihoods and meaningfully engage with the market

  • Create an ecosystem self-organized entities for skilling, market access, and livelihoods training for marginalized communities.
  • Facilitating access to skilling through partner CSOs and supporting in placements for entering job market.
  • Financial Inclusion through direct participation in savings and access to credit through credit cooperatives & training on financial literacy and inclusion.
  • Comprehensive livelihood & skilling program for women for various non-traditional livelihood alternatives.
  • Business incubation, facilitation of access to credit, operational and marketing support for enterprises.

Building a socio-cultural narrative rooted in democratic values

  • Art & cultural experience to further democratic narratives
  • Curating works of artists and culture-makers from diverse backgrounds to create a platform for artists to showcase their work and people to access experiences through 2 museums in Ahmedabad & Raipur
  • Creating thematic workshops and panel discussions to build discourse in society on themes rooted in democracy
  • Supporting artists and culture makers through residencies to produce work in collaboration to create art publications
  • Engaging with stakeholders like schools and colleges to introduce scientific temper, critical thinking and humanitarian sensibilities rooted in constitutional values in popular systems of knowledge
  • Creating knowledge resources through publications by editing and compiling prominent works on the aligned themes
  • Designing and curating experiences and gamifying frameworks to unfold social issues to enhance reflection in various stakeholders
  • Creating films in collaboration with filmmakers and artists to deepen the conceptual mandate on diverse themes
  • Harnessing social media and engaging with a large constituency of social media users who engage with the work produced through the effort
  • Influencing strategic cultural partners to create shared popular platforms for increased reach