We are at a critical juncture of time when a need for a change in lifestyle choices and accommodating sustainability in the patterns of politics, trade and development, industry etc. is crucial. This necessity for equilibrium calls for approaches which are committed, ethical and effective in empowering young people to ingrain sustainability into their very thought and thus, in sustaining our common future.To realize this, The Educating Youth for Sustainable Development (EYSD) Division at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) initiated ‘LEADearthSHIP’ in 2013.

LEADearthSHIP is a youth program for undergraduate and post graduate university students from selected cities focusing on business and sustainability and aims to be the spring board for future youth leaders in India who have their world views deeply rooted in sustainability, ethics and innovation. It is based on the belief that young people of the country must be engaged in ideation, innovations and action that would ensure holistic development of the nation.

LEADearthSHIP focuses on strengthening the following three dimensions in a young person:

1) Emphasis on the ‘individual’ – imparting 21st century relevant skills.

2) Enhancing domain knowledge and competencies on leadership and sustainable development.

3) Exposure to real life examples of sustainability initiatives by businesses as well as civil society organizations through field visits.

The programme began with support from Tetra Pak India Ltd. for duration of two years (2013-2015) and was implemented in Delhi-NCR and Pune, Maharashtra. The period of 2015-2018 of LEADearthSHIP will be supported by Genpact. The third phase (2015-16) of the project will be implemented in Delhi-NCR. The project is planned to be expanded from 2016 onwards with addition of more cities as Jaipur (Rajasthan) and Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh).

The project reached out to more than 50,000 people in the last two years directly. In 2015-16, the project aims to directly reach out to about 30,000 persons and about 200,000 indirectly, through its various interventions.

Project Objectives

1. Prepare youth for leadership roles in their institutions, communities and cities through intensive training and imparting transversal skills to be able to contribute to the sustainable growth of the nation.

2. Facilitate understanding of innovation and cutting age sustainable practices by industry leaders as well as grassroots initiatives.

3. Impart knowledge on the triple bottom line (people, planet, profit) of business and enable learning through experiential programmes and sustainability initiatives

4. Develop competencies in young people to integrate sustainability in thought and practice in any field and vocation.

Key Project Activities

1. Set up a consortium of colleges in selected cities working towards sustainability issues

2. LEADearth Fellowship Program - This is the mainstay of the of the LEADearthSHIP programme. The Fellowship provides an opportunity to the Fellows to conceptualize, implement, lead and manage a sustainability project on their own. The fellowship program brings together intensive classroom sessions on business and sustainability by industry and civil society experts, interspersed with field visits and experiential learning, providing an opportunity to step out of the classroom into the real world and experience sustainable practices in action. During 2013-15, 54 students have undergone this fellowship and implemented 18 projects during the two phases of the project. During the third phase of LEADearthSHIP (2015-16), 40 students will be selected from Delhi NCR and awarded the ‘LEADearth Fellowship’.

3. Internships - The LEADearth Fellows from the first two phases (2013-15) were provided an opportunity to intern for 6-8 weeks at an organization which is deeply entrenched in developmental, sustainability or socially relevant creative work. The basic purpose of the internships is to provide the Fellows with practical experience, enhance their skills and build upon their learning from the Fellowship. This component has been discontinued in 2015-16.

4. Leadership lectures - A series of talks and workshops by renowned leaders from the field of sustainability, youth activism, business, media, sports, arts; young visionaries and motivational speakers are held as part of LEADearthSHIP. These workshops/ talks are intended to reach out to a larger audience in colleges and act as platforms to talk about sustainability issues and to actively engage ‘thought leaders’ from across the spectrum to interact and inspire young minds.

5. Campus Impact Challenge - College campuses will be invited to participate in this inter-college competition, where a group of students will be asked to identify one key (a) sustainability challenge in the their respective campuses (b) design a campaign to transform the problem into an opportunity (c) implement it over a specified period (d) evaluate and assess impact € compete for the ‘Genpact Campus Impact Award’.

6. Online Activities through social media as Facebook (www.facebook.com/leadearthship), Twitter, Instagram and Google+. In order to target youth in a more systematic and structured manner, a microsite will be developed devoted exclusively to the project.

Other Innovative Activities

• The Future Leaders’ Café (FLC) is an ‘unconference’ to create a space for the youth for constructive and action oriented conversations on sustainability and social change and brings together inspiring examples from wide and seemingly disparate fields like media, technology, art, entertainment, music, business, literature and governance. Two editions of the FLCs, on the themes- ‘Rainbow Approach to Sustainability’ and ‘Sustainability Jukebox’ were organized in Delhi and Pune respectively in 2014 and 2015. These two conferences were attended by over 400 participants from colleges and other like-minded organizations.

• Cycle to Recycle rallies were organized to commemorate the launch of the project in the city of Pune in 2013 and 2014.

• LEADearthSHIP programme joined hands with international ambassador Sir Robert Swan – polar explorer, environmentalist and founder of 2041 (an international organization) in its first phase. LEADearth Fellow Shreyak Mahajan was selected as part of the LEADearth competition to accompany Sir Robert Swan for the International Antarctic Expedition 2014.

• Net Work for Nature- an online activism challenge to select seven people from across India as Youth Ambassadors was held in phase II of the programme. The challenge required the participants to post photographs, videos, tiny tales for six days on predefined themes on sustainability and social concerns on Google+, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.