We are excited to announce the launch of Frontline Youth Creativity Initiative (FYCI), a youth-led and youth-focused organisation working to empower young people to challenge the status quo and promote positive social change through the creative arts. Our organisation is inspired by the recognition that young people have not been given the appropriate mechanisms to express themselves, which has resulted in a stifling of youth voices. We therefore seek to utilise the creative arts as a powerful force to elicit positive behaviours and attitudes from young people whilst empowering them to serve as change agents themselves.
Founded in 2021 by a diverse team consisting of a public health and M&E specialist, a lawyer and development worker, a rap artist and music producer, a computer scientist and web developer, and a social media expert, FYCI is poised to utilise the creative arts in innovative ways to drive critical discourses, influence behaviours, and promote positive social change.
We have three main organs: the Youth and Creativity Nucleus, which uses creative art forms to address political, socio-cultural and economic vices in society; the Girls Empowerment Nucleus, which empowers young girls through trainings on gender equality, human rights and development issues; and the Boys and Masculinity Nucleus, which addresses key masculinity and development issues affecting young boys.
Our approach is predicated on the Social Art for Behaviour Change (SABC) approach developed by the One Drop Foundation to encourage healthy behaviours around water. Based on the successes of the SABC approach in the context of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) projects, FYCI seeks to use this same approach to lay the foundation for sustainable positive change in Nigeria (and Africa), focusing on four major themes:
- youth political participation;
- gender rights;
- youth agency and self-esteem; and
- anti-corruption.
Through a combination of research and analysis, training and capacity building, social media engagement, mentorship programmes, and events and competitions, we are highly confident that we can elicit the sort of positive behaviours and attitudes that we want to see from young people.
Visit us on https://fyci.org/get-involved to learn more about how you can get involved in this initiative!
Awesome
Great initiative!