Jayesh Naithani

Becoming I Foundation is an internationally recognized youth led organization that mobilizes young people into engaging with community development issues. Through projects in the fields of women empowerment, trafficking, primary education, alternate sources of employment, leadership training, life skills development and youth empowerment, we have had a direct and indirect impact on more than 5000 young people all across the globe. Our volunteers come from varied socio-cultural backgrounds, ranging from school students to working professionals who are all unanimously committed to making a difference. Our organization is structurally divided into a core board, an editorial and communications team, a set of project coordinators and our pool of volunteers all of whom democratically interact to realize our project goals. Four projects, two fund-raising events and multiple campaigns later, we have still maintained the very belief system with which the organization was created: To identify and mobilize future change-makers from every section in society. Our Strategy: Each one of our projects has a defined target audience and goal. Over two years, we have managed to reach and bring some degree of change in the lives of thousands but most importantly, in ourselves. We derive our energy from our corpus of dedicated volunteers who have an equal say in the design and implementation of every project. It is our core belief that a democratic structure is necessary to inculcate a sense of ownership and automatic commitment and dedication towards the project. When we develop our programme strategies, these are primarily based on one-on-one interactions with our target groups, which includes counselling sessions, door-to-door data collection and workshops with the community. We see the performing arts as a form of dialogue that instantly helps us bond and connect with our target groups, and more importantly, helps them be a part of the change we envision.