The Global Youth Action Network (GYAN) is a student-driven social venture focused on creating equitable global volunteering pathways through a collaboration between Charterhouse and The Akshaya Patra Foundation. GYAN recognizes that service exchanges, including home-stay arrangements, often assume a special access to travel and resources by students from wealthier backgrounds. The GYAN initiative aims to create a new framework for service exchanges through the development of a bilateral exchange model whereby both groups of students, students from Charterhouse and students from low-income communities in India, are involved in the same learning.
GYAN will also implement a Charterhouse Service Club that will coordinate the itinerary process, workshops, and planning with the Akshaya Patra Foundation. The trip will incorporate aspects of service through meal distribution, cultural workshops, and remedial learning, with experiential opportunities for Charterhouse students, including visits to vertical kitchen sites and working with Akshaya Patra authorities. GYAN will complete the project with an audit report that will contain key findings and opportunities for discovery alongside the aim of initiating the longer-term goal of building a robust foundation for global youth volunteering.