Launch of the country’s first youth empowerment incubator

HYPE aims to be a catalyst for inclusivity

The incubator will connect young people in a wave of youth concentric reformation to achieve a sustainable, inclusive development that is led by young change-makers and impactors

The launch of Sri Lanka’s first-ever youth empowerment incubator, HYPE, is set to be launched on the January 25, 2020. Operating under the vision of creating youth inclusive sustainable development, HYPE is driven by two core objectives of youth empowerment and the creation of inter-stakeholder links.   

HYPE aims to be a catalyst for inclusivity and seeks to challenge and restructure the conventional approach to the concept of youth empowerment in Sri Lanka. The incubator will connect young people in a wave of youth concentric reformation to achieve a sustainable, inclusive development that is led by young change-makers and impactors.  

The organisation is currently engaged in carrying out ‘Project Nexus’, a connectivity-based initiative that seeks to register youth organizations operating in various fields across the country and facilitate cluster-based networking amongst these organisations. Several youth organisations have signed up for this Project including Rotaract District 3220-Sri Lanka and Maldives, AIESEC Sri Lanka, Leo Multiple District 306, Sri Lanka, USRO Forum Sri Lanka, The Open Gate,  ATLANTIS , while more organisations are in the process of signing up.   

“Here our main objective is to get different Youth Organisations to coordinate with each other, who otherwise wouldn’t, to carry out bigger, better and more efficient projects. Each Organisation will be separated into a different cluster based on their fields of expertise. Thereby, if Organisation A wants to carry out a project related to women’s empowerment and they don’t have the proper means to do it, we will get Organisation A connected with another Organisation from the Women’s Empowerment Cluster and they can get together and do the project. Our main objective is to act as a coordinating body to maximise the benefit to society,” General Secretary of HYPE Sri Lanka, Chanya Ranatunga said.   

HYPE Sri Lanka has also founded ‘HYPE’s Policy Tank’ which is a Policy Think Tank dedicated to facilitation the youth policy formulation cycle of the country. Therefore, as a stepping stone, HYPE Sri Lanka has scheduled the launch of the organisation and the associated interactive stakeholder youth policy discussion, which is an attempt to gain the opinions of the youth clubs in developing a model youth policy for Sri Lanka. This model policy will thereafter be handed over to the Government for application.  The launch will be held on January 25, 2020 from 2 p.m. onwards at the Home Tree co-working space.