Pravah India

Pravah is a non-profit founded in 1993, working to co-create a sustainable ecosystem that nurtures empowering spaces for young people. Now in its 30th year, Pravah invests in partnerships, builds the capacities of youth work professionals and organisations, and engages with multiple stakeholders in the adolescent and youth development sector. Pravah is also a co-founder of ComMutiny, The Youth Collective, and of the vartaLeap Coalition, a cross sectoral community of over 150 stakeholders working under the mission "Every Youth a Jagrik, Every Space Nurturing Jagriks." The organisation runs "The 5th Space," a concept describing safe, empowering environments for youth self-expression that sits at the core of its programme design.

Major Areas of Work

• Nurturing Adolescent and Youth Leadership: Direct leadership development programmes for young people across multiple Indian states.

• Capacitating Youth Organisations and Professionals: Training and capacity building for people and organisations that work with youth.

• Strengthening Youth Engaging Ecosystems: Building networks and systems that support youth centred development across sectors.

• Co-creating Social Change: Collaborative initiatives that connect youth leadership to broader social change efforts.

Major Initiatives and Programmes

• My Life Mere Faisle (MLMF): A flagship life skills and leadership programme for adolescents.
• Learning Voyages: Pravah's capacity building arm, offering courses for development professionals including "Big Ticket" on instructional design and facilitation, and "Ocean in a Drop" for youth sector professionals.
• Abilities Beyond Skills: A programme building employability, entrepreneurship, and organisational development competencies among youth.
• Changelooms: A programme supporting early stage youth-led social start-ups.
• Saanstha and Adaptatva: Organisational development interventions helping social sector organisations and their senior leadership teams build sustainable, values driven institutions.
• SMILE Fellowship and Internship Programme: An entry pathway through which many of Pravah's own team members first joined the organisation.

Impact

Pravah has nurtured over 500,000 youth leaders and incubated 500 young social entrepreneurs over its 25 plus years of programme work, alongside its partners. It has carried out social experiments across 20 Indian states and reached over 15 million people online. Its current state level footprint spans Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Delhi, engaging thousands of young people directly in each state alongside wider indirect and online outreach. Pravah is also the founding force behind the vartaLeap Coalition, now a network of more than 170 youth focused organisations spanning government, media, education, and UN agencies.

Leadership

• Ritikaa Khunnah, Chief Executive Officer and Board Member
• Arjun Shekhar, Co-Founder
• Ashraf Patel, Co-Founder
• Malavika Pavamani, Director, Fundraising

Partners

UNICEF, HCL, Castrol, HSBC Bank USA, Dasra, SBI Foundation, Porticus, Misereor, EMpower, Jubilant Bhartia Foundation, Ate Chandra Foundation, NOREC

Pravah suits people who want to work on youth leadership and organisational capacity building, in an organisation with three decades of grounded experience and a strong national network. It offers exposure to both direct youth programming and systems level work through coalitions like vartaLeap, along with clear internal pathways from intern or fellow to full time team member. It appeals to people who want thoughtful, values driven work on youth development, backed by an established name in India's adolescent and youth sector.