YSD’s mission is to facilitate sustainable social and economic development of marginalized communities in urban and rural Odisha through research, policy advocacy, participatory community action and people’s empowerment. The organization was founded in 2006 by a group of researchers at the local University – they studied the reasons for the imbalance of poverty in the city, and when presenting the study to the Government the response was very positive, following their registration as an independent NGO focused on governance and social accountability.

Since inception, YSD have engaged with local communities (both in slums and also in local colleges) to train them on citizen rights, advocacy, legal tools and how to engage with the local authorities in a constructive way. They have developed 50 Youth Clubs in slums around the city, 2 Universities and 4 Colleges, where utilising a community based special curriculum have trained young people on leadership, advocacy and citizen rights. More recently, their programmes focused on improving sanitation conditions in 2 areas, empowering women to become more involved, and monitoring different public projects.

For more informatio, please visit their website.