The journey of YALC 

- Anusha Ojha

Before diving into my journey as a YALC, let’s try understanding what a YALC is. YALC which stands for Youth Activist Leadership Council member is the in-house project of YUWA under the SRHR department. YALCs perform various works like delivering CSE sessions and generating awareness-raising posts for a social media platform that helps to spread knowledge to the youths about sexual and reproductive health and rights. Along with this, YALCs also put forward their voice and opinions through blogs and articles.  

I began my journey as YALC during my second year in university. I got to know about the position from social media and was very eager to be part of this program. I applied for the position just a day before the deadline. And the reason behind the delay in applying? The answer is I was not sure I would be selected for the program. I had done my research before writing the application and done the background check of previous YALCs. They were extremely awesome, so I naturally thought the process was quite competitive. But I feel extremely thankful for my decision that day to write the application in the very last moments. Otherwise, I would never know what I would be missing in life. So to everyone wondering if they should apply, my answer is to give it a shot with utmost honesty in your answers.  

After the rigorous application process, I was selected to be part of a team consisting of nine other equally competitive people some known and some unknown faces from diverse backgrounds. And with these amazing people that share different perspectives, my journey started. It started with training/induction where I learned a lot about the SRHR and equally unlearned my subconscious learnings that were engraved in my mind as well. The journey continued with delivering sessions, writing monthly blogs, preparing monthly digital content, and monthly meetings that were full of fun. If someone asks me what is my favorite part of being on this journey. I would say with confidence that my favorite thing was being with my teammates. More than from anyone I have learned from them. I learned how to be patient and diligent from some and how to be articulate and fearless from others. In short, I would say that I have learned some essential life skills from my teammates. And yes apart from learning my favorite thing is the bond I share with them. I have found my go-to people in life through YALC so for me YALC was a place to enhance my personal growth along with a place to network professionally.