Who We Are?
CDA is governed and driven by youth. All eight members of our governing body are between the ages of 18–35, with equal representation of men and women (4 male and 4 female). Our membership base includes 2,000+ young volunteers, 50% of whom are female, representing diverse identities and regions across India. Our members are united by a shared vision of peace, inclusion, and development.
Our youth leaders act as change agents in their own communities, working to resolve local conflicts, reduce violence, and promote inclusion. Through CDA, they gain the skills, confidence, and support to address complex social issues—such as tribal and ethnic conflicts, religious intolerance, gender-based violence, and integration challenges in multicultural societies.
About
Centre for Development Action (CDA) is a dynamic, youth-led organization committed to building an inclusive, peaceful, and empowered society through the leadership of young people. With a strong foundation of over 2,000 youth volunteers across 28 states of India, CDA harnesses the energy, creativity, and passion of young men and women (aged 18–35) to address pressing social challenges in diverse cultural and regional contexts.
Our Mandate and Goals
CDA is a youth-led organization committed to promoting youth leadership, community empowerment, active tolerance, and responsible citizenship.
Our work is driven by four key principles:
Innovation – Encouraging creative, youth-led solutions to social challenges.
Quality – Ensuring excellence in all programs and initiatives.
Impact – Delivering measurable change in communities and youth lives.
Sustainability – Building long-term, resilient development efforts.
We focus on fostering a culture of human rights, peace, and dialogue.
CDA promotes mutual understanding and cooperative relationships among youth from diverse cultures, languages, and faiths.
We ensure meaningful youth engagement by involving young people in the planning, decision-making, and implementation of their own development initiatives.
Through inclusive and participatory approaches, CDA empowers youth as active agents of positive change in their communities and beyond.
Our Core Values
Promote Youth Leadership: Empower young men and women by enabling their active involvement in planning, decision-making, and governance at all levels—community to national.
Advance Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation: Equip youth to serve as peacebuilders and dialogue facilitators in areas impacted by social, ethnic, gender-based, or political conflict.
Foster Inclusion and Social Cohesion: Encourage intercultural understanding and gender equity, while engaging marginalized youth, including tribal, differently-abled, and conflict-affected groups.
Support Youth Livelihoods and Life Skills: Improve employability and economic self-reliance through vocational training, entrepreneurship support, and career mentoring, especially for at-risk youth.
Promote Youth Rights and Active Citizenship: Raise awareness on youth rights in health, education, and livelihoods, and promote civic engagement, democratic participation, and public representation.
Build Partnerships and Networks: Collaborate with youth-led organizations, institutions, and global partners to amplify impact, exchange knowledge, and influence youth-friendly policies.
Our Approach
CDA works through a participatory and inclusive model, collaborating with:
- Local youth associations and NGOs
- Faith-based and cultural networks
- Educational institutions
- National and international organizations including UNESCO, IFAD, WHO and others
- We emphasize networking, creativity, and inclusive community approaches to ensure that our impact is deep, sustainable, and replicable.
Our Vision for the Future
CDA envisions a society where young people lead the way in building peaceful, inclusive, and resilient communities. We aim to expand our impact by scaling up successful models, strengthening partnerships, and investing in the next generation of youth peacebuilders and social changemakers.