A flagship program of The Yuva Ekta Foundation, Threads of Humanity focuses on the empowerment of At-Risk Youth, Children under Care and Protection (CNCP) and Children in Conflict with Law (CICL). Our efforts over the last decade with marginalised youth have been intense and engaging, ranging from organising Expressive Arts workshops to performances, oriented towards creating a safe space for the participants we have worked with. In 2018, we began a pioneering research project at the Place of Safety and Special Home for Boys, Majnu ka Tila that looked at 'Building Emotional Intelligence using Expressive Arts and Psychodrama Therapy with Children in Conflict with Law’.We have continued our interventions at the Home since then. The theme for International Women’s Day 2021 was #ChooseToChallenge. Our initial meeting with the department revolved around portraying an exhibition on March 8, around the theme ‘Women in Leadership’. We understand that empowerment is a long, arduous process and it is important to breakdown the larger canvas of Gender Justice into everyday paradigms. We chose to explore what young people thought about issues like feminism, masculinity, equality and gender roles. After careful deliberation and discussion, we decided to work with 6 Child Care Institutions (CCI’s) in Delhi, and designed activities on thematic areas around Gender Justice. We felt It was imperative to work with both, boys and girls, to allow conversations around International Women’s Day play out within different contexts. An oft asked question in the arena of Gender Justice is ‘Whose working with the boys?’ We feel that no process of empowerment is complete unless the dominant or powerful group is also worked with. Our intent therefore in all our programs, is to ultimately bridge the gap between the privileged and marginalised. Women have personal stories of struggle and survival that need to be expressed, respected and celebrated. Women’s Day is a perfect way to encapsulate this essence, globally. However working with men also becomes necessary, and our first step with the boys was to make them understand the importance of women in their lives, beginning with their own circles of influence. While the exhibition on March 8 was an end-goal, the process leading up to it is what mattered to us the most. We designed a model which allowed us to work in 3 Boys’ and 3 Girls’ CCIs in Delhi across a span of 3 days, conducting 2 workshops each day. The process was also designed to mirror the same activity in a Girl’s Home as well as a Boy’s Home, to bring out their contrasting perspectives on Gender Justice. We were aware that the time we spent with the participants would not be enough to cover an issue of structural change, but even so, we wanted to make our time with the participants meaningful and expressive. We chose three simple Expressive Arts activities: The Mask, The Gratitude Tree and Storybook Writing. Common to all these activities was the intent of exploring the role of women in our lives and the inspiration and strength we draw from them. Even though our time with participants was limited, it did not stop us from diving deep into genuine stories of struggle and change. Both the boys and the girls were full of emotional accounts of their mother, sister, or a closely known woman, who has given them unconditional love, support and strength. More than that, we heard first-hand accounts of young girls who have been victims of sexual abuse, with each day in their lives, becoming a test for survival. THE FINAL DAY Our artwork was displayed as part of the exhibition organised by the Department at their offices in ISBT, Kashmiri Gate. We spread our artwork across 2 stalls, displaying all the material we had collected over 3 days of intense workshops. We received plaudits from members of the Department and Mr. Rajendra Pal Gautam (Delhi Cabinet Minister- Social Welfare, SC & ST, Gurudwara Elections, Water and Registrar of Cooperative Societies) for an innovative and ‘different’ portrayal of content. We feel that a more consistent workshop process, specifically oriented towards the needs of inmates inside the Home, can yield more meaningful rewards. We are already working on a Comprehensive model for Rehabilitation of Young Offenders at the Place of Safety and Special Home for Boys, Majnu ka Tila. This model has been arrived at after a decade long experience of working in the field and understanding the concerns at hand. We would love to explore such opportunities for collaborations in the near future.