Ilaya Shakthi – Youth Empowerment
Ilaya Shakthi – Youth Empowerment
From the year 2006, the EMPOWER’s HIV prevention project began to initiate working among unmarried youth and adolescents on HIV. By June 2007 which is end of the project period, 34 Teen Health Clubs and 18 Youth Clubs of formed focusing on safe behaviors and healthy life styles promoting abstinence through life Skills Education and Value Education. EMPOWER feels that the efforts have to be further consolidated and strengthened focusing on the age group of 13- 24 years who are the future of the Tuticorin Urban backward settlement.
The main challenges of the youth are Drop–out from schools before completing the secondary education. Employment before the age of 18 years in unskilled menial jobs. Love affaires among the adolescents leading to unsafe sex, multi-partner relationships and also premarital sex and pregnancy. Sexual exploitation by the older members in the community and at work place. Early initiation into drugs such as cigarettes, beedis, marijuana, alcohol by a vast majority of male youth. Loosening social control and changing social mores due to globalization.
Besides, there are a percentage of effeminate adolescent boys with confused sexual identity and are in the verge of emotional trauma with lack of family and societal support who drop out from school and take up sex work for their livelihood. Also, there are still male adolescents and youth from broken homes who are vulnerable and perform petty thefts and other crime get recruited as an anti-social.
In the present set up there are no exclusive modes of entertainment to channelise their energies such as playgrounds for play or any avenues for creativity or any specific programs for slum adolescents and youth to express their creativity or learn new skills and knowledge within their dwellingareas.
There is a need to constructively canalize their energies and efforts for their self – development to adhere to safer life-style by promoting sports, games and living arts and also enable them to get a sustainable income.
