We are young.
We are fearless.
We want a better future for all.
We are U-Reporters.
And we are a Million strong!
In India, U-Report is a movement of young people taking actions for positive change in their communities and their own lives. The unique social media platform surpassed one million registered U-Reporters in India today. With this breakthrough, India has become the fourth country with the highest number of users in the world among a vibrant global community of 15 million U-Reporters.
In the backdrop of an ongoing pandemic, this feat was no small task. U-Report India uses Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Telegram to reach young people around the country to get their opinions and ideas, provide them verified information and opportunities, and share resources and toolkits on life skills, career mobility, climate change and environmental sustainability among many other topics – all delivered in a gamified and engaging manner!
Many youngsters, from all over India now look at the U-Report bot as a friendly companion that converses with them on topics that are relevant in their daily lives. At the start of the pandemic with the closure of schools and colleges, U-Report India worked collaboratively with YuWaah (Generation Unlimited, UNICEF India) to develop a 21st century-skills learning bot, FunDoo. The interactivity of this bot has provided for a self-paced, fun, personalized and safe journey that takes the U-Reporter through several point-based assignments (we call them U-Points!) with a strong focus on learning-by-doing. With the initial launch of FunDoo engaging more than 60,000 young people, we see it as a promising solution for imparting 21st-century skills to 300 million young people in India directly on their phones.
Innovating newer formats of engagement and co-creating content and recruitment strategies with our partners have been a cornerstone behind U-Report India’s digital engagement and scale-up. Over the last two years, U-Report India has forged a strong partnership with YuWaah and has sustained pan India digital movements in 11 regional languages. A stellar example of this partnership is the #YoungWarrior movement that started with a commitment from 1350+ partners, including the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Ministry of Youth Affairs (MoYAS), Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and aims to engage India’s five million young people to lead action against COVID-19.
So far 3,520,000 actions have been taken by young people through the bot linking them to simple point-based tasks, verified tools and multilingual knowledge hubs to protect themselves and those around them from COVID-19. With each action, a U-Reporter commits to taking charge against the spread of COVID-19 and if done fully, is awarded a certificate of appreciation! The movement is also an encouraging example of how partnerships, youth engagement and low-tech mobile interventions, together can be a driver for large scale social change.
As U-Report India reaches the one million U-Reporters milestone, we continue to forge ahead, partnering directly with young people themselves, ready to achieve ambitious goals for meaningful youth engagement in the country.
To check out U-Report India, WhatsApp 'Hi' to 9650 414141 OR find U-Report India on Telegram and send 'start'
