For Youth, By Youth: Rewriting the Rules of Who Gets to Belong

I can’t wait to welcome the new For Youth, By Youth cohort. And that excitement? It’s not just about the program itself—it’s about what it stands for, what it disrupts, and what it makes possible.

Few things have weighed on me more than seeing brilliant, compassionate, wildly talented people held back—not by a lack of drive, but by the sheer weight of circumstance. Money, gender, religion, the accident of where you were born—these things dictate far too much.

Coming from Pakistan, I saw this constantly. But it wasn’t just something I observed—it was something I worked within. My time in human rights and community service spaces made this reality inescapable. I met people with revolutionary ideas and deep-rooted compassion, people who wanted to build, change, contribute—but who were kept out of rooms where they should have had a seat. I saw how structural barriers weren’t just limiting access to opportunities; they were dimming people’s belief in what was even possible. It’s a quiet kind of grief, watching people be forced into versions of themselves they never wanted to be. For Youth, By Youth is one small way of pushing back. Because the people who have the least often deserve the most. And we want to see that realized. This isn’t just about amplifying voices; it’s about listening—and letting that listening change you. Every stereotype you’ve absorbed, every bias that sits just beneath your awareness? Let them be unraveled. Let the people in this cohort take what you think you know and turn it on its head. The best kind of learning isn’t comfortable—it’s disorienting. It forces you to see the world through someone else’s eyes, to understand realities you’ll never personally live.

Working in human rights spaces taught me this firsthand. No matter how much you think you understand a struggle, there’s always something deeper when you sit with people’s lived experiences. That’s the kind of learning I hope you embrace here.

And I also hope this journey shifts something in you. I hope it fuels you. And I hope, in ways big or small, it gives you exactly what you need to give back.

Thankyou

Duaa e Zahra Shah