CYDA (Centre for Youth Development and Activities)

CYDA (Centre for Youth Development and Activities)

CYDA is a youth led voluntary organization founded in 1999 and registered under the Society Registration Act, 1860. Based in Pune, Maharashtra, it works with young people aged 13 to 29, using a rights based development approach to build youth as agents of social change. CYDA works with adolescents, Dalit youth, urban and rural youth, and youth in high risk areas, and has reached over 2 million young people across Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, and other parts of India, as well as in South Asian countries. The organization is led by young people from different linguistic, cultural, educational, and religious backgrounds, reflecting its core values of gender equity, human rights, plurality, participation, accountability, and transparency. CYDA maintains institutional policies covering child protection, human resources, finance, procurement, volunteer engagement, and fraud and anti-money laundering, along with a published 10-year strategic plan (2025 to 2035) and five years of publicly shared annual and audit reports.

Head Quaters: Pune, Maharashtra, India

Major Areas of Work

• Youth Engagement and Innovation: Mobilising youth as change agents through platforms like Youth4Change and Avaaz Hamari, focused on gender, climate action, and the SDGs.
• Education and Skilling: Providing remedial coaching, life skills education, digital literacy, spoken English, and career guidance to adolescents aged 10 to 19, alongside a STEM education programme and support for primary school students affected by pandemic era learning loss.
• Community Development Programme: Running Community Resource Centres for vulnerable urban families, addressing immediate community needs alongside longer term development goals.
• Inclusion: Supporting marginalised groups including LGBTQ+ youth, high risk youth, youth in remand homes, youth with disabilities, and young women denied access to male dominated jobs, through skill building and entrepreneurship support.

Major Initiatives and Programs

• Youth4Change, a three tier youth leadership and civic engagement program active in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh since 2007. The first tier introduces youth to social issues through activities and workshops, the second places them in real world social work projects alongside professionals, and the third supports youth in forming their own groups to lead campaigns and advocacy. The program has grown from 50 volunteers in Chhattisgarh to close to 450 core leaders and more than 2,000 continuously engaged members
• Avaaz Hamari, empowering young girls and women in underserved communities on gender, climate change, and SDG themes
• Nava Aahar, focused on waste management innovation, WASH entrepreneurship, and nutritious food access
• Non-Traditional Livelihoods Program, run in partnership with EmPower, supporting women's mental health awareness and new women led start-ups, including a livelihood initiative for women in Salve Nagar, Pune
• STEM education initiative and a Martial Arts initiative supporting youth development
• Mission Yerwada, working to prevent at risk youth from engaging in criminal activity
• Voice of Boys and Safe and Unsafe Places, programs addressing gender awareness and safety
• 10 STITCH, an entrepreneurship development training program
• Samjho Toh Express, a peer training program that has trained multiple batches across Pune and Chhattisgarh

Impact

CYDA has reached over 2 million young people since its founding, including close to 200,000 adolescents trained on life skills, and has worked in Chhattisgarh since 2007. Its Youth4Change program in Chhattisgarh alone has directly benefited more than 2 lakh people across 45 villages at the block and district level, and has supported community level change including village level bans on liquor sales, gender sensitisation workshops run jointly with the police department, and Gram Panchayat action against child marriage. The organization currently runs active operations across Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, and Goa.

CYDA offers the chance to work directly with young people as leaders rather than only beneficiaries, across a wide range of themes from gender and climate to livelihoods and inclusion. With over two decades of grassroots presence in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, and Goa, the organization gives staff exposure to youth led programming, community organizing, and policy advocacy grounded in a rights based approach. Its published child protection, HR, finance, and fraud mitigation policies, together with five years of publicly available annual and audit reports, reflect an institutional commitment to transparency and accountability that is uncommon among youth led organizations of its size.