With a significant rise in the number of youth advocacy organizations, workshops and volunteers, Nepal is definitely gearing up for a social change movement. But is this change what will lead society to a better change or will words speak louder than actions?[break]
Republica joined four veteran activists in a discussion about this upcoming movement and the advocacy scene as a whole.
Rajan Thapa, 24-year-old Network Coordinator for Nepalese Youth for Climate Change; Anita Thapa, 29-year-old President to Youth Initiative; Pradip Pariyar, 30-year-old President at Association on Youth Organizations Nepal (AYON); and Bijay Prajapati, 29-year-old President at Children for Green New Nepal (CGNN) talk about the activism scene in Kathmandu, its days gone and days to come.
The past
Activism is always spurred on by issues, situations and time of great change. There are issues that arise in the society that need to be dealt with, with words and actions.
In the past, activism was a belief, an unquenchable desire to set about change in the society. Anita, who formally graduated in the field of Business Administration, still finds joy in working with the youth and has focused all her knowledge on the administration of Youth Initiative.
Biijay started volunteering in social organizations since his graduation from high school and has held on to that volunteering concept. Starting out activism is never easy, they all echo. You have to have the passion, the urge to force yourself to commit to one idea.
“I call myself an environmental activist,” says Rajan, adding, “My main inspiration in this field has been Bharat Basnet, an environmental activist as well as a self-made entrepreneur. When I was working with him, he caught me carelessly discarding a plastic bag and immediately told me to dispose of the bag properly. He told me that being an activist, and if I didn’t feel responsible for my actions, how do I expect to affect other people? His words echo through me till today.”
Youth activism has been successful in implementing a separate government body, Ministry of Youth and a National Youth Policy, through the Ministry of Youth.
The present
There are a lot of youth-related organizations sprouting up, but are they as effective as they plan to be? There are organizations that work for a certain cause, that work on limited funding and that work for a limited time before they shut down.
There are activists who join activism organizations to embellish their resumes and nothing more. Pradip informs us that all this is fine because activism does not go on forever.
Activism is fueled by a specific cause or situation, and after that issue has been tackled and change initiated, activism is done.
“There are young students who come to work for us,” says Anita. “They come to work for us for free but we have to keep in mind that they also do require certain types of initiative for their efforts. They come for a formal certificate that’ll help them get into college, but activism doesn’t take place in this form. It’s more individual. If people come to our organization to work and their work here has changed their behavior towards other people or has changed the way they think, we’ve been successful better than planned,” she adds.
Pradip informs us of his fear of the activism scene focusing more on irrelevant issues rather than the ones that matter.
“Educational bodies aren’t providing a good environment for students to study. Where is advocacy against that? Students protest the raise in petroleum products but they don’t realize that students are the ones who use the least amount of petroleum. We haven’t been able to tackle issues that relate directly to us as youth. We keep fighting for someone else’s cause,” he says.
The future
It hasn’t been long since the activism scene started. But the scene is definitely catching up, echo all.
There are more organizations that are working for a specific issue, there are more people joining activism, and there are more issues being raised which define the horizon for the future of activism.
Youth networks are growing and so are various youth-based activism workshops that connect the empowered youth, creating a network for these young minds to tackling issues arising within their own society.
“I’ve worked with youth abroad but what impresses me about Nepali youth is their desire to leave a mark and helping bring a change to the society,” says Anita. “I wouldn’t say that activism has a scope, but if the youth want, they can turn any nozzle of society to bring about big changes,” she informs.
“The future looks good but it’s not without challenges,” says Bijay. Nepali society has changed a lot through the decades, some for the good while other not so much.
But what keeps the bringing about change and what turns the pages of this change has always been activism. People have the power to overturn governments, to protest issues, and this right to protest has been driving human society forward.
Youths face their own issues, be it political or cultural, and taking this initial initiative to bring about change can turn the whole of Nepali society upside down.
Activism is about empowerment, about advocacy, and one of the primary driving forces in bringing about positive change to society.
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