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Guest Editor’s profile
21-year-old Priyanka Rai, WDP Guest Editor for this issue can talk with authority on waste management, sex education, theatre, and what not, all thanks to the international exposure she’s got
Narender Yadav Vikaspuri
It’s a fact that unless motivated and confident individuals take on the baton to spearhead the process of change, the goal of social transformation cannot be achieved. 21-year-old Priyanka Rai from Vikaspuri not only believes in the efficacy of an individual to bring change, but is working quite actively in this direction.
Priyanka shares that she always had the urge to do something different in life, but she was not getting the right platform before she got introduced to ’Beyond Borders’-a youth related programme of the British Council in 2005. "Today when I look back on the last three years of my life, I see myself having evolved into a confident young woman who knows her mind. All thanks to the Beyond Borders Project that I attended," recalls Priyanka, a resident of KG Block, Vikaspuri.
’Beyond Borders’ was a Connecting Futures Project of the British Council that provided a platform to young people from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the UK to come together, share and address issues related to identity, diversity and active citizenship. As a second year Commerce student in Janki Devi Memorial College (JDMC), Priyanka became a member of the project and attended various workshops on waste management, sex education, theatre, democracy, RTI, facilitation skills, environment related issues and exposure trips to River Yamuna. She was a core group member and focused on democracy, female foeticide, life skills and environment.
The wide gamut of activities that were organised as part of this programme provided her an opportunity to raise several social issues and work for the social cause. "In the journey of ’Beyond Borders’, I was a part of the team for organising Beyond Borders festival in November 2005 in British Council, and also attended life skills residential camp at SIDH, Mussorie and Sanskriti Kendra in Gurgaon. In February, 2006, I also attend Beyond Borders International Youth Summit in Bangladesh, inaugurated by Dr Iajuddin Ahmed, the then President of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. The summit there witnessed participation from all member countries of the project and the platform was used to explore the many common problems in the member countries and what we should be doing on our part," says Priyanka.
Rai feels that on an individual level one can and should initiate the process of change.
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