Social change sparking a generation

In a nutshell

Gen Z and millennials use social media to talk about everything that happens in the world around them. As a result of being so connected, they are hyper-aware of social justice issues.
However, when it comes to taking real social action they need direction and support.

TribesforGOOD is a social impact platform based in Mumbai. It offers teenagers and young adults the chance to take action and participate in issues they care about by volunteering with social enterprises working in India.
In doing so, TribesforGood bridges a talent gap.
On the one hand, students receive mentoring and real-world experience in social entrepreneurship.
Likewise, nonprofits and NGO’s work with youth who are enthusiastic about changing society.

 

Why social change matters

“Charity work” is how many people describe the social entrepreneurial space.
Mandeep Kaur believes that it’s crucial to turn this idea upside down, not just in India, but everywhere.
She launched TribesforGOOD in 2018 thinking, “Look at the challenges we now face. We need people to work together and give something back to society. Social enterprise must become a mainstream industry. It needs to attract talent the same way that other industries – fashion, banking, airlines, telephone, and telecoms attract talent.”

TribesforGood offers work/study social justice programs that teach students the skills of social change making.
By giving students exposure to social enterprise, TribesforGOOD hopes to make it an attractive field for young people. And importantly, TribesforGOOD wants to create viable career paths for youth who are interested in social change.
“Just imagine the impact we could make if the entire world was thinking about social and environmental causes.”

 

A little background

Mandeep Kaur (founder and CEO of Tribes for GOOD) saw the powerful impact of young activists like Greta Thunberg and Malala Yousafzai. Young people can be convincing social changemakers.
She also understood that change making requires skills. Changemaking skills could be learned and nurtured.
“The problem,” she thought, “is that schools do not train youth with the skills they need to make social change.”

In 2018 Mandeep started TribesforGOOD to offer learning-by-doing journeys for youth who are passionate about change. In three years 1,500 high school, college students and young professionals have joined TribesforGOOD’s different programmes.
They are working with grassroots innovators in India on topics such as gender equality, education, health and animal welfare.
“Above all” Mandeep  says, “these students are giving back to society and making a positive impact.”

Meanwhile, when Covid-19 started spreading through India, the students began to focus more particularly on aiding vulnerable communities. For example, the students developed Covid-19 related projects such as:

• Student-to-student mentoring for first-generation learners who were locked out of school.
• Launching an online platform to sell the handcrafted products of women from low-income backgrounds.
• Creating an open-source document to inform people of their legal right to Covid-19 related insurance benefits.

The big picture

TribesforGOOD believes that social change making is a powerful idea whose time has come.
Their goal is to spark a movement to mentor 1,000,000 changemakers throughout the world.
“We’d like to get the entire Gen Z and Millennial generations speaking out on the causes that they are passionate about. Imagine what we could do if we had a million people like Greta.”

Who we talked with

Mandeep Kaur, the founder of TribesforGOOD, and a team of young changemakers, Kiah, Richa, Dhruvishi, Riya and Raima.

More on social change and TribesforGOOD

Read full interview with Mandeep Kaur here, or visit their website. You can also and follow them on IG, FB, Twitter

Feature photo credit: Nikhita S – Unsplash