Members of Citizens

Youth empowerment is what youth organizations strive to do, however very few have been able to realize that there is a dearth of platforms for youth to connect and grow together. Understanding this gap, Mahees Ahmed established Citizens, a youth-led organization for youth empowerment and peace building, in 2018. Keeping true to its vision, Citizens held an online event in February ‘Be the Change: Youth Dialogue’ which focused on innovation and social entrepreneurship. This event was held in collaboration with the Sri Lankan chapter of Who is Hussain, an international charity movement.   

The panellists for the event included Ms. Madusha Dissanayake, Assistant Representative of UNFPA Sri Lanka, Ms. Shanuki de Alwis, Brand Purpose consultant and Creator and Host of “Shhh” - The Talkshow, Mr. BenislosThushan, Founder and Chief Instructor at Digital Storytelling and Mr. Dinusha Rajarathna, CEO at SABAH Sri Lanka. The dialogue was moderated by Ms. Rashima de Silva, Project officer at Helvetas Sri Lanka. This dialogue was held with the aim of creating a platform to mentor future social entrepreneurs. “In Sri Lanka, we see that there aren’t many resources for youth to become a social entrepreneur so a platform such as this would be helpful,” remarked Ahmed.   

Previously Citizens had held the Citizens International Youth Summit in 2020 where youth around the world had participated in the online summit. Speaking about the summit, Sandro Sathyajith, Director of Media shared how the summit was organized by just five people from Citizens. “I became a part of this youth organization because I really believe it has an impact on youth and the society. Citizens is also currently in the process of opening its chapters in other countries - India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Philippines,” he said adding that to form these chapters, the volunteers and country directors in those countries were given certain projects to complete. Since the Citizens committee are unable to be physically present in these countries due to the pandemic, the country directors have been coordinating with Citizens regarding the projects.   

Speaking on how the pandemic affected the organization, Senuri Jayasinghe, Director of Volunteers stated that due to the pandemic, they had to move the meetings and events to a virtual online platform. “We didn’t let the pandemic stop us and continued to impact society in the kind of projects we did,” she said adding that certain projects were also initiated in Nigeria and Uganda. “Even though for now, projects where we need to physically be there, are on hold, we are planning the projects out. One of the projects we are planning is to establish a telebooth library to promote the habit of reading among the community,” said
Ms Jayasinghe.   

Panellists at Be The Change dialogue

Gaps to be Addressed

Despite there being a rise in youth organizations in the recent past, there are certain gaps that are yet to be addressed. “The biggest threat I see is that there is a lack of perseverance in youth to go forward despite challenges,” Sathyajith stated pointing out that even if platforms and resources were available, the lack of perseverance in youth makes it harder for youth to create an impact. Other than this, another issue he observed was that the messages given out by the majority of youth organizations do not reach all youth in Sri Lanka, especially in rural areas. “80% of our youth are from Anuradhapura and messages from youth organizations hardly reach them. We usually think of the Colombo niche,” he remarked. Jayasinghe, who hails from Nuwara Eliya,agreed with Sathyajith and stated that the youth in the area lacked knowledge on certain topics. “This is seen especially on topics which aren’t widely spoken about or taught in school such as mental health, laws and sex education,” she said.   

Sumhiya Sallay, the Secretary, remarked that even though youth are bringing positive change in the community, impact of many are yet unfulfilled. “Many youth lack the knowledge, expertise and resources to put their ideas into fruition,” she noted. However, at Citizens, they plan to address these issues and are also currently addressing some of the issues. “Our aim is to empower youth and create future leaders who will make the world a better place. Keeping this in mind, we plan to address these gaps and provide a platform for the youth to be innovative, solve issues, share their ideas and also have mentors to receive knowledge and expertise,” commented Ahmed.