At Dream a Dream, we have constantly evolved our understanding of the context of our young people. Field research has shown that our life skills programme graduates have the social-emotional competencies and aspirations to overcome adversity and thrive in an increasingly complex world. Yet in 2018, one of our brilliant young girls, selected for a one-year exchange programme to a community college in USA was locked up by her family, her passport taken away so she could not step out of her boundaries. Equipping young people with life skills was addressing only part of the challenge, as the pervasive systemic barriers continued to dictate their life choices. Amarnath, another Dream a Dream graduate, faced financial crisis during the Covid-19 pandemic when his parents, both tailors in a garment factory, were pushed into unemployment. Responding to the unprecedented need, he learnt to stitch masks and PPE kits and sold them to supplement family income. He was able to adapt, evolve and thrive while facing an uncertain future, even as the system was failing him.

These experiences showed us that thriving is not dependent on young people alone; rather calls for a systemic shift to enable thriving. In addition to developing life skills, we are now working to break the deep-rooted structural inequities in our society. We are working with decision makers — parents, teachers, school leaders, employers, policy makers among others, to understand their contexts and revisit their narratives of success in a changing and challenging world, to reframe the core purpose of education to work for young people inclusively.