Shakti

Shakti is the youth engagement program at Eka. We engage with youth from a range of backgrounds including unemployed youth, dropouts from school and college, daily wage earners, college going youth among others. Eka tries to create different forums to engage youth on a range of issues. Some of these forums include the Shakti youth fellowship program where girls participate in a year-long learning process on understanding community development through classroom sessions, field work and internships.


Adolescent girls and boys from a local madarsa, Aishbagh old city of Bhopal participating in a film screening on child sexual abuse. The Child Protection program had a special focus on adolescents and was a part of the Safe City initiative supported by UNICEF, Madhay Pradesh.

Other forums include structured workshops both residential and non-residential on topics related to Media & Communication, Gender, Rights among others. Youth from different backgrounds attend these workshops including feild staff of civil society organizations, movements and youth networks.

Yuva Shakti facilitators/para-legals provide counseling support to youth in communities. Yuva Shakti counseling unit has emerged as a felt need among young people especially throwing up issues like practice of coercion, mutual consent during sex between young couples, forced abortions, un-monitored use of emergency contraceptives and over the counter drugs to treat reproductive tract infections, including sexually transmitted infections, unwanted pregnancies and sexual assault by partners and other men/boys. Masculinity continues to be a heated area of discussion especially when it impacts both young men and the girls that they interact with.