Making Youth the Social Change Agents
YIY - WHY I WHY
Organizational Vision
Citizen Base Strategy
How it's Working
Lessons Learned
YIY – Why I Why (formerly Youth Innovation Year)was created to answer the question of how to promote youth participation in social causes. Founder Kritaya Sreesunpagit aims to impart to Thailand’s youth that they hold the creativity and energy to social change. Based on the idea that young people are naturally innovative and that with the proper inspiration and support, can positively impact society, YIY has sponsored 46 youth-initiated social innovation projects with both financial and consulting support. The participants were chosen from a pool of nearly 200 nation-wide applications to the Youth Innovation Marketplace Competition; each winning project receives between $5000-$10,000 of seed money to promote development and growth of the idea. YIY also helps form networks of young people participating in social development projects and activities within the country. Under Sreesunpagit’s supervision, YIY has created a central website that serves as a virtual community center for young people working in social development fields, providing them with a place to interact, learn and inspire each other (www.deksiam.com). YIY has also helped form and advocate a number of governmental policy recommendations relating to youth, and the organization has spoken as the voice of Thai youth to both national and international assemblies.
YIY’s credibility with the youth population was further strengthened in 2004 when YIY teamed up with a popular Thai rock band to create a song about the organization – a song not only used for fundraising purposes, but which actually rose onto the pop charts in Thailand. Sreesunpagit has also heightened the profile of her organization by initiating mass media campaigns and enlisting the aid of public figures to raise awareness by doing things as simple as wearing YIY t-shirts. She has sustained her work through support from UNICEF, The Thai Health Promotion Fund, and private sector organizations interested in working with young people. She won the Changemakers Citizen Based Initiative Award in 2005.
Improve contributions by putting contributors to work
The more people understand YIY, the more they are willing to contribute, and Sreesunpagit has found that the most effective way of increasing understanding is engaging people as volunteers. She utilizes the particular skills of each volunteer; they might work as a mentor, participate in a project relevant to their field, or provide technical counseling in marketing or finance for YIY itself. She also gets young people to volunteer, because the more they understand the concept, the more they want to be a part of the cause. And if by volunteers show up that could be used by another organization, YIY matches those people with those other organizations. Sreesunpagit believes that every volunteer opportunity broadens YIY’s reach and strengthens its connections within the community.
But YIY doesn’t function solely with the work of volunteers. YIY has recently diversified their funding base with the revenue from the sale of goods and products. All YIY products are marketed under the same "I'M POSSIBLE" brand, turning the impossible into the possible, a theme which is also an effective campaign tool. Initial product lines include t-shirts, notebooks, and stationary, and the branded slogan has not only been a way of generating sustainable income, but has been quite successful in spreading YIY’s message through youth culture.
Generate multiple income resources for greater mission independence
YIY decided early on in its development that it didn’t want to be dependent on specific granting organizations. Sreesunpagit believes this practice is dangerous because it limits an organization’s freedom to determine how it carries out its operations. She also found that working with a variety of partners and organizations provided an opportunity for YIY to take its message further and gain greater endorsement in the wider community, rather than focusing solely on people and organizations in the social sector. Her wide array of volunteers has proven to be a very special resource in this way. Not only has the organization benefited from human experience and labor at little to no cost, it has also produced a network of long-term support. YIY’s diversity of support has also diversified its risk, allowing it to operate independently and with the freedom to design its own strategies.
YIY’s estimated annual income is approximately $250,000 US, with a portion coming from an independent fund set up by the Thai government that applies 2% of all tobacco and alcohol tariffs to social development. Sreesunpagit’s primary support comes from the business sector, support she continually tries to expand, particularly as YIY looks to these business relationships for more than donations. The partners Sreesunpagit recruit are involved in the actual design and execution of her projects. She has found that by involving business partners in the actual projects themselves, they learn more about the initiatives and contribute much more than funding. “They truly believe in what we do,” she says, “and they carry the message forward to people around them.” For this reason, Sreesunpagit likes to include her funders on selection panels when choosing her young social entrepreneurs.
Asking people for money is rarely easy. Sreesunpagit discovered it was easier for her to ask for in-kind donations, whether food, accommodations, volunteers, or training, as a way to get people to invest in her program. Regardless of the kind of donation, Sreesunpagit is serious about having every contributor become involved. She treats every contributor, whether financial or volunteer, as a partner, and encourages them to make recommendations to further YIY’s projects. This strategy is based on the premise that deepening a person’s understanding of the organization and its mission increases the likelihood for long-term engagement.
- YIY’s internet portal, www.deksiam.com, has created a community for active youth which was visited 7,845 times in the month of June of 2004 alone, with numbers are steadily increasing.
- In 2004, 5,000 posters and 6,000 brochures were sent to high schools, universities, vocation schools, civic organizations and youth-related organizations all over the country to educate them on ways for youth to get involved.
- In 2006 the Youth Innovation Marketplace competition received 100 entries and funded 35, with US$50,000.
- The final round was judged by representatives from organ izations as diverse as Ashoka, Social Venture Network, UNICEF, FAO, and Shell.
- In 2006 YIY took their road show to 21 locations in major provinces all across Thailand.
- Support other Citizen Sector Organizations. If a volunteer fits a different organization better, send them there: they will learn the value of volunteering in their interest area, and you will strengthen your alliance with other local CSOs.
- Evaluate what is needed to sustain the program and then search for suitable partners – even (or perhaps especially) if they are rock bands. Encourage partners to feel a sense of ownership, even if they just volunteer for a day or give a few dollars. Encourage funders to be a part of the actual process of the organization.
- Get people to volunteer in their specific area. When volunteers share knowledge about what they already know, they see that their skills are valuable and needed, and understanding the value of their contribution will make them more likely to continue to volunteer and support the organization.
- Embrace the “multiplying effect.” Engaged youth will engage their parents; engaged students will engage their friends. The more involved a volunteer, the more they will spread the word to their own personal community, thereby spreading the volunteer base.
“The most important thing to promote their participation is to motivate them, make them know they are needed and leave them the space to learn and grow.” - UNICEF, 2004
“I mean that if there is an individual who comes to volunteer at the organization, they might work for a month and be fairly involved and fairly interested in the work they do, they would tell their friends. They would tell their families. So we don’t only get support from one person. We get support from that person and someone else who would spread the word. So -- so that was -- it was a multiplying effect.” - Kritaya Sreesunpagit