ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2021
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. In 2021, over 25,000 young leaders on 2,000+ campuses across 153 nations applied to join the Class of 2021. 136 campuses worldwide (just 6%) were selected to host the 2,000+ Millennium Fellows. The Class of 2021 is bold, innovative, and inclusive.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT AYUSHI NAHAR, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW FOR THE CLASS OF 2021.
O.P. Jindal Global University | Sonipat, India | Advancing SDG 8 & UNAI 3
" “Don’t just float through life. Make waves. This is the spirit that embodies my financial literacy initiative. I was financially aware and literate from a very young age and I reap the benefits of the same today. When I made my first investment, I felt empowered and confident about myself. In an era where FinTech and digital transactions are reshaping and moulding the Indian landscape, financial literacy can play a significant role in uplifting communities economically, empowering women to become financially independent, and enabling students to make well-informed financial decisions about their education. By collaborating and integrating with financial institutions like banks and mutual fund companies, I aim to spread financial awareness so that all my stakeholders reap similar benefits like I did.” "
Millennium Fellowship Project: The Financial Literacy Times
Literacy, in any domain of life is key towards the personal growth and development of an individual as well as the community cumulatively. Financial literacy provides a platform to students and women from the lower-income brackets to have an equal footing with other members of the society. This equality would be enabled by spreading awareness regarding the different financial channels and alternatives that our primary stakeholders could benefit from in order to fulfil their financial goals, objectives. Financial knowledge would also give them a chance to negotiate with bargaining power (backed by knowledge) while approaching the otherwise intimidating financial institutions such as banks.
The fundamental reasoning behind choosing women from my community was that the financial independence of women through financial literacy was fundamental to break the patriarchal norms that rampantly persist in India to this very day. Women in my community do not get the chance to open their own bank accounts, let alone make any financial decisions for themselves. To empower them, they need knowledge in their toolkit. I want to be the one who can provide financial literacy to the best of my capabilities.
Choosing children as the primary stakeholder on the other hand was to ensure that they understand the value of money and also learn about financial planning from a very young age. In India, since the financial burden of children falls on the shoulders of parents (even after the child is a major), the financial stress parents have to endure to ensure that their child’s education, marriage and other dreams are funded for. However, this is an unreasonable burden in today’s world where the cost of living is rising at a rapid pace. Therefore, my endeavour would be to contact schools in and around Bangalore and persuade them to include financial literacy in the school curriculum. Money should never be the ends, but no one can deny that it is the means and how it is managed and used must be taught to children from a very young age.
Knowledge is power and my project would work fiercely in advocating financial independence of all. In doing so, the project would promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth as per UN SDG #8 and SDG #4. Additionally, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has specifically looked into the advocacy and promotion of financial literacy and the Financial Literacy Times would work in tandem with RBI and the bigger picture of the Indian economy – aatm nirbhar bharat (self-reliant India), as our Prime Minister Modi has termed it and aspired towards a futuristic India.
A financially independent developing India could contribute to the nation’s economic growth, GDP, inflationary pressure, and evolution. If the grassroot level stakeholders can contribute to the economy, it would definitely lead to stability and growth in the economic markers and the economic climate of India.
About the Millennium Fellow
Ayushi Nahar is an ambitious and aspirational global citizen who is self-driven and fuelled with the spirit of questioning. Currently a law student at Jindal Global Law School, O. P. Jindal Global University, India, Ayushi aims to optimally use her legal education to empower herself, and by extension empower those who those who weren’t provided with similar opportunities. She has worked with organisations to mentor young girls suffering from Down’s Syndrome and cerebral palsy, conducted educational and scholarship programs at the Indian Institute of Science to teach students from rural areas and expand their horizons, and most importantly learnt from everyone she has had the opportunity to guide. She has interned at premium India legal institutions like the National Law School of India University and honed her research skills. Research has given her a realistic image of the ground reality that persists and her endeavour has always been to transform this theory into practicality and action. Through the UN Millennium Fellowship, she is ready to embark upon her journey within the domain of financial literacy. By combining her financial skill sets that she acquired from her father, her creativity, resourcefulness, and leadership, she firmly believes that her initiative can provide women, children, and MSMEs an equal footing in the financial and business world. With a spirit that nothing is too daunting, she hopes to drive home a change and make a dent in the global community.
