Sekulu Nyekha
2019 Winner
Position: Volunteer
Organization: International Youth Alliance on Family Planning
Current Location: Nagaland, India
Graduate from Bachelors of Vocation in Performing Arts and Visual Communication with Psychology
Additional Degrees and Certifications:
• Attended mental health seminars and conferences (national and inter college) including Workshop on Alcohol Addiction, Non Violent Communication, Art Therapy. Attended media based workshops like Filmmaking, Cartooning, etc.
Awards Received:
Award:
Best Outgoing Student
Awarding Organization:
Jyoti Nivas College Autonomous, Bangalore
Date Awarded:
March 27, 2019
Award:
Valedictorian
Awarding Organization:
Jyoti Nivas College Autonomous, Bangalore
Date Awarded:
March 28, 2019
Award:
Plenary speaker and writer (youth delegate)
Awarding Organization:
ICFP, 2018
“Sekulu is voluntarily working with International Youth Alliance on Family Planning (IYAFP), India. She was selected as plenary speaker and writer (youth delegate) in ICFP 2018. She is using story-telling platform to address FPRH issues.
“– Ghulam Yaseen Veesar, Deputy Director at Sindh Healthcare Commission
Describe your contributions to and achievements in family planning.
I was part of Hidden Pockets Collective for 2 years as a volunteer. I have touched varied areas of work during the course including mapping health clinic and reviewing the same, creating photo stories, curating and designing campaigns, as a social media person, designing other creatives, initiating and hosting events, etc. All of these circled around the importance and risks of sexual and reproductive health. I was selected to the ICFP 2018 and attended the conference as a plenary speaker and writer (youth delegate), representing Hidden Pockets Collective. I was also invited by UN foundation as a global youth representative to briefing of US journalists at the same.
What sparked your passion for family planning?
Sex is a tabooed topic in our community. We never received sex education nor a mentor to guide us through puberty. This does not however mean young people are not having sex. Friends would get pregnant when they were as young as 15/16/18. Some would go through abortions where they were abused by doctors and nurses, one decided to keep the baby and stopped going to school. I have also seen poor families have children more than they can afford. Witnessing such incidents, I decided to be passionate
Give one or two examples of how you display leadership in your family planning work.:
1. Through my volunteering work. I was a volunteer at Hidden Pockets Collective as an experience designer, addressing issues of family planning, and currently a volunteer at IYAFP.
2. I was selected to attend the ICFP 2018 as a plenary speaker and writer (youth delegate). I represented Hidden Pockets Collective.
If you are named a winner of 120 under 40, how will you use this new platform and the $1000 grant to advance your work?
I’m currently working on a project independently to work on the issue of differently abled and inclusivity/accommodation. Understanding the importance of family planning, the platform will address the issues of the same faced by the differently abled. I currently need the resources to collect data and document stories. We need more health advocates who are differently abled, contents and documentations that projects the realities of sexual health of the differently abled.
Photos of the nominee in the field/at work
