1985

Performing a critical mediation role to resolve the tenancy issue in Jogeshwari, Mumbai with the revocation of the Maharashtra Vacant Lands Act (MVLA). YUVA mediates between the tenants, the recently formed people's organisation Jogeshwari Rahiwasi Sangathana and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

1986

Working on evictions and lack of access to basic services across bastis and with pavement dwellers. This leads to the city-level Committee for Right to Housing (CRH) and later the National Campaign on Housing Rights (NCHR).

1989

Launching a range of training programmes such as Youth Animator Training Programme, Urban Animator Training Programme, and others, to build critical skills and capacities of community leaders.

1989

Setting up a Legal Resource Centre to address injustice arising from evictions, violation of rights pertaining to housing, labour and basic amenities, and violence against women.

1990

Starting a 24-hour open shelter for street children, Ghar Ho Toh Aisa (A Home Like This), which operates till 2004, providing a safe place for vulnerable children living on the streets.

1991

Re-strategising to develop as a People Centred Collaborative Institution, with the announcement of the New Economic Policy in June 1991—facilitating People's Organisations that work to secure rights and People's Institutions that build assets of the poor.

1991

Developing 5 non-negotiable core values—Social Justice, Gender Justice, Secularism and Democracy, Honesty and Integrity, Environmental Sustainability—and 11 levels of intervention for a multi-pronged and integrated approach to change.

1992

Peacekeeping efforts post communal riots in Mumbai in December 1992. Reviving Radhabai Chawl, the site of violent deaths during the riots, as Sadbhavana Kendra, a community resource centre for cohesion and harmony.

1993

Expanding into rural areas post the Latur earthquake in Maharashtra, broadening the response mechanism from man-made disasters to include natural disasters as well.

1993

Collaborating with terre des hommes Germany and Action for the Rights of the Child to uphold and push for ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by the Government of India. This ongoing Campaign Against Child Labour (CACL) spans across 21 states.

The first decade laid the foundation for YUVA's mission of social change across themes, communities and geographies. State and national level networks of children and young people, and on habitat rights, were initiated during this time. YUVA demonstrated a steadfast commitment to human rights, social justice, community empowerment, and youth development, with core values guiding the work.

1995

Publishing a quarterly newsletter Varta Patrika, providing updates and perspectives on YUVA's work in the social sector. It covers a range of topics, including latest projects, community initiatives, and key developments in areas such as education, healthcare, livelihoods, and more.

1997

Facilitating the resettlement and rehabilitation of communities forcefully evicted from Bhabrekar Nagar, Mumbai, in 1997.

1998

Initiating the Anubhav Shiksha Kendra (ASK) youth experiential learning programme, drawing from the SMILE programme, to build youth leadership from the grassroots. Currently, ASK extends across 21 districts of Maharashtra.

1998

Offering solidarity and support to the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), which monitors India's water sector and acts as a bridge between civil society, research organisations, communities and the administration.

Supporting people’s organisations such as the children's collective Bal Adhikar Sangharsh Sangathan (BASS), and people’s collectives such as the Jogeshwari Rahiwasi Sangathana and the Shehar Vikas Manch (SVM), working on issues of habitat and basic services.

Building people's institutions by facilitating the growth of several women-led credit cooperatives and service cooperatives across Mumbai and Nagpur, to support the growth of alternative and sustainable livelihoods.

Strengthening decentralisation of governance in cities by developing people's leadership to implement the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act.

Strengthening work in rural areas, with interventions in the Vidarbha region to address developmental challenges, address migration, and to work for natural resource management and low-intensive sustainable agriculture.

2001

Establishing YUVA Centre in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, a collective space for empowering individuals and organisations and facilitating human rights learning processes.

2001

Re-imagining the organisational structure with distinct entities registered separately and governed by Strategic Entity Boards. They operate independently yet synergistically under the YUVA umbrella, comprising YUVA Urban, YUVA Consulting, YUVA Centre and CIDCO-YUVA Building Centre. YUVA Rural, also formed at this time, later branches off as an independent entity.

2004

Transitioning leadership strategically in 2004, with the founder Minar Pimple stepping down and the organisation continuing in its next phase of growth.

During the second decade, YUVA strengthened work on-ground, and expanded focus areas to include work on governance and informal labour. YUVA's work in rural areas was also initiated. The commitment to community empowerment, and facilitating of diverse people's organisations and institutions was continued and strengthened.

2005

Community support efforts across different bastis during Mumbai's large-scale eviction drive in 2004-2005, affecting over 3,00,000 people.

2006

Joining the citizen's movement against the privatisation of water supply. The Pani Haq Samiti, facilitated by YUVA, brings to focus the fundamental right to water and sanitation.

2006

Exploring models for decentralising urban governance, including supporting a model Area Sabha as an institutional space for direct participation of all voters in an electoral ward, along with a campaign for a Community Participation Law.

2006

Striving for policy interventions, from initiating networks and collective efforts to collaborating with government committees to input into policies and laws such as National Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy 2007, Unorganized Workers' Social Security Act, 2008, National Water Policy 2012, Maharashtra Youth Policy 2012, Land Acquisition Act 2013 and the Street Vendors Act 2014

2008

YUVA Urban Initiatives, associated with YUVA, works to rescue and rehabilitate children in distress as an implementation partner of Childline India Foundation. The team attends to hundreds of emergency calls annually.

2008

Facilitating children and youth groups across bastis in different cities, and enabling their leadership of campaigns and change efforts.

2010

Participating in the state-wide campaign for effective implementation of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005. YUVA anchors the Maharashtra chapter of the South Asian campaign 'We Can End All Violence against Women', engaging with close to 50,000 changemakers. With the collective response, the government declares it will appoint full-time protection officers.

2011

Intervening in the revision of Mumbai's Third Development Plan 2014–2034, which eventually evolves into Hamara Shehar Mumbai, a people's campaign on urban planning and governance. YUVA demystifies urban planning processes and increases people's participation in planning, while also continuing to engage on campaigns on the right to water and sanitation in Mumbai.

2012

Empowering marginalised individuals through Basic Service Facilitation Centres in communities, a Migration Resource Centre (which includes a Labour Helpline focused on wage recovery and worker welfare) and Child Resource Centres in communities.

In the third decade, YUVA strengthens people’s collectives and organisations, works to expand access to rights for marginalised communities, and increases people's participation in governance. YUVA leads efforts against forced evictions and water privatisation, upholds informal workers’ rights, and influences policy reforms.

Strengthening work on the habitat and livelihood framework,YUVA's work expands to cities in the states of Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Jharkhand. Interventions deepen in Nagpur, Navi Mumbai, Panvel and Vasai.

Strengthening our work in rural areas with natural resource management, use of sustainable agricultural practices, improvement in livelihood opportunities, community empowerment and the setup of rural basic infrastructure in schools and ashramshalas.

2016

Through sustained campaigning of Shehar Vikash Manch and YUVA since the early 2000s, Government of Maharashtra issues a series of GRs to provide land titles to all bastis on state government land in Nagpur and across other cities of Maharashtra. Interventions towards facilitating land titles begin in Nagpur. The people’s organisation model is replicated in Bhubaneswar where people collectivise on securing land titles.

2017

Anchoring diverse initiatives through the ComplexCity festival in Mumbai (such as via curated walks, competitions, youth conventions and more) to build respect for urban diversity, and imagine and co-create an inclusive city.

2020

Responding holistically with relief and rehabilitation efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Addressing emerging vulnerabilities and ensuring a community-led approach throughout to ensure that people’s dignity and security are upheld.This includes in-depth research and documentation of the ongoing migrant workers' crisis and enabling access to social protection.

2021

Focusing on institutionalising social protection facilitation in partnership with local governments; and support to local entrepreneurs, especially women and youth to strengthen and sustain their livelihoods.

2022

Engaging in nature-based greening and placemaking for select vulnerable communities in Mumbai, converting disused community spaces into sites for greening, micro cooling and as safe spaces for vibrant community cohesion. Initiating coping and adaptation measures in bastis towards resilience to climate change. Ensuring people’s participation at every step in partnership with various stakeholders, resulting in strong community stewardship.

Capacity building of communities and research on the urban plans of Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Indore and Guwahati are conducted in partnership. YUVA participates in and anchors campaigns to ensure inclusion in the Development Plan revision process in Delhi, Akola, Navi Mumbai, Panvel, Vasai-Virar and Guwahati.

Continuing to facilitate and strengthen people's organisations such as the Assam based domestic workers' collective Grihokarmi Adhikar Suraksha Samiti (GASS), a Maharashtra based informal workers’ collective, and Maharashtra Rajya Gharelu Kamgar Samanvay Samiti (MRGKSS) and the Navi Mumbai based Ghar Hakk Sangharsh Samiti (GHSS). The Bal Adhikar Sangharsh Samiti and Anubhav Shiksha Kendra complete 20+ years, a testament to the power of collectives of children and young people.

In the fourth decade, YUVA expands presence, building on and taking forward critical lessons from its three decades of work to other cities in India. The pandemic reaffirms the need to invest in people’s organisations and enable social protection. YUVA explores responses to changing climate through a justice lens.