Project Ripple helps to develop confidence among youth

Yadiki(Anantapur): Project 'Ripple' unveiled by Nehru Yuva Kendra (NYK) district coordinator and United Nations Volunteer Siva Kumar a couple of years ago created ripples in the district among the youth. In a bid to create confidence and improve their self-esteem, about 30 youth were initially gathered and trained. The project of UNV-NYK was launched with the concept of each one-reach ten. It was dubbed as 'Dyeyam'.

Care was taken in selecting the volunteers having moderate skills and dedication. Each volunteer in turn was supposed to train 10 youth and build a network of youth who can train others on various aspects of leadership, confidence building and time management. The master trainer would monitor the training programme. The goal was to make trainees confident in English language and other skills.

Siva Kumar said to `The Hans India' that there was no formal module or curriculum that was used in the training, but it was done through various exercises. The youth were motivated to make them realise their potential in terms of confidence, language skills and their ability to analyse. Initially there were certain bottle necks faced by the trainers, but subsequently two schools were opened for the training programme. The youth group succeeded in training 391 youth among their community.

One Jhansee who was part of the training programme told 'The Hans India' that she had learnt to communicate in a better way and performing her job as a teacher confidently. She said that she got exposure through the programme and she learnt many things she was not aware of before.

Rafi, another youth stated he had totally transformed after the training programme and got boldness. `I have taught 80 other local youth and now I am aspiring to become a teacher,’ he said. The Nehru Yuva Kendra is engaged in several training programmes aimed at empowering the youth.