It’s not often that one gets a glimpse of the efforts and intricacies of a successful endeavour.
Such is the case with the Young Changemakers Programme.
As history suggests and what my eyes have witnessed, every soul associated with this initiative, whether the organisers or the participants, have noticed a stark transformation in them.
Every year, a pool of the brightest minds with blazing purpose come to IIM Ranchi – each individual capable of creating a ding in the universe. Anirudh, Lekhana, Siddh, Vrushank, and their Project Nirmaan is a long-standing testament to the potential that these young adults have. We cannot wait to see what the latest cohort unleashes!
The glare and glory of YCP’s success make people awe-struck. Truth be told, nobody really gets to know what happens behind the scenes.
Allow me to elaborate.
Before the Before Began
It started in April 2024.
We started preparing for YCP as soon as we headed back home for the summer break. We were motivated to make this the BEST edition.
We had our first online meet on 28 April 2024, not to discuss the programme but to collectively rant about how our seniors criticized us for circulating a form without their consultation. To top it off, we took some important decisions (which were later debunked) without any insight into how things work.
Were we naïve? Yes.
Did we know that? No.
One meeting after the other, we kept on going: ruthlessly making excel sheets, assigning work to each other, coming up with some crazy ideas. “Meet tonight at 10pm” had become a regular message in our group. Until one fine night.
The Plot Twist
We were wrapping up ideation when we got the news. YCP 3.0 was taking a different direction this year.
The new structure was ambitious: Impact Initiator for student sensitization, followed by a Rural Immersion Bootcamp, and finally an Impact Accelerator to support student ideas.
It hit us hard. Our minds went blank – how would we execute any of this?
All those hours of planning seemed distant now. The team’s motivation dipped. Even though meetings continued, you could feel the energy wasn’t the same. This programme was supposed to be our baby and now suddenly it didn’t feel like one. Those meetings still took place but productivity was at an all-time low.
It was finally time to come back to college from summer break and face reality. Planning picked up pace again as we gained acceptance of the new structure. Slowly and steadily.
Looking back, those challenging days tested our resilience. What felt like a setback was actually preparing us for something bigger.
Then came November. We launched the Impact Initiator, an online student forum engaged in crucial discussions on empathy, grassroot governance, civic advocacy. This better equiped the participants to tackle the problems with proven frameworks and case-studies.
Every week, we were in a dilemma as to what content should be given to the students. We were deciding what to be taught, we experienced a new-found respect for our professors now that we were in their shoes!
The Final Sprint
Those final 10 days before the Bootcamp were intense. We juggled everything – emails, operations, bus schedules, dorm arrangements. The to-do lists seemed endless.
The night before Day-0, we huddled in a classroom for last-minute prep. That’s when it hit us – after 7 months of planning, the Changemakers were finally arriving on campus.
The next six days transformed everyone. Our team clicked perfectly. Sure, we faced hurdles, but without it, we wouldn’t have learned crucial lessons about teamwork and communication. All the interpersonal friction subdued once we listened to each other and put our shared willingness to make the programme a success above non-consequential differences.
The last day was special. Reality struck again – IT WAS OVER. Chills. We spent an hour capturing photos, fighting back tears. Looking back, yes, it was exhausting. But we’d created something remarkable – turning a blank excel sheet into a full-fledged programme that achieved all its goals.
Not an End, But a Beginning
Fast forward to the day I’m writing this, the question stands – Have we been able to say goodbye to YCP?
No.
And we never will.
Young Changemakers Programme 3.0 – The Impact Edition is a piece of our mind and heart, and we shall do everything to preserve it. All the people involved in it put a part of themselves in it. We only see an upward slope in its growth. With every passing year, we are expanding its repertoire. It renders me speechless when I think about the potential of this programme and the heights it can reach in the future.
As of now, we are a family of over 300 changemakers, we can’t wait for it to become even bigger and better.
YCP 3.0 Core Team:
Alisha Karwasra, Mayur Sonawane, Parnika Singh, Heli Acharya, Aastha Garg, Sejal Gupta, Sanya Gupta, Bibhuti Ghiya, Sinchana D, Kislay Singh Panwar, Rishabh, Neelabh Dubey, Pranav Yadav and Adarsh Alex Balmuchu
YCP 3.0 Supervising Team:
Kaustubh Dabral, Tanishq Chajed, Rhythm Maheshwari, Shwetabh Singh, Eeshan Shinde, Sangini Verma, Khushi Jhinghan, Kaushik Mohapatra
