IYCN Annual Report 2008
Dear Friends,
The Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN) was nothing more than an idea in January 2008. Since its official launch as a platform for youth and young professionals in March 2008 it has grown by leaps and bounds and now known to millions throughout the world. It has been a wonderful journey to attempt to build a unifying youth movement on a topic that is often considered controversial and which has not yet entered the psyche of the ordinary person in India—though we are all living its consequences daily. A simple vision, “an idea whose time had come,” we did not intend for it to make as much noise as it has but we believe that it offers a ray of hope in a climate of change. By tapping the passion of youth energy and their desire to make change and have their voices heard by policy makers we’ve managed to connect everyday students and young people directly to the Prime Minister’s Office. It has not been easy: it has meant doing the unimaginable, the daring, and thinking about out of the box solutions to build a movement that is based on solutions.
The challenge of such a movement is to strive to keep things democratic, transparent and inclusive. A movement is only as strong as the people who are passionate to drive it and the beauty of IYCN is that it attracts those who wish to take leadership and to lead, not follow in others’ efforts. In keeping things inclusive and democratic, it has been a difficult task to simply “manage” a network that has mushroomed and gotten much interest from established civil society members, government, and companies. Till date it has been a volunteer driven effort and a few young people who didn’t know what they were doing realized through trial and error the level of professionalism that is required. We are continuing to become more and more professional and try to reach out to as many people as possible in order to build a united movement and one that is representative of youth voices on the issue of climate in India.
IYCN is an entity that inspires a movement simply asking people what they aim to do to tackle the climate challenge and in the process inspire others into action. One year ago we asked people to join the network because it was “Something New, Something Bold.” Today, we are no longer new, we are simply bold. Help shape the movement-join us! Support. Unite. Share. Engage. Inspire. Change.
Sincerely,
IYCN Team
