Bangalore: Adobe Youth Voices (AYV) program has successfully completed the third year of its global philanthropic initiative, which encourages youth in under-served communities. The program is currently being run in 31 countries around the globe.

The Adobe Foundation and the American India Foundation (AIF) have been the partners for AYV to empower the youth, putting down their views on the world using multimedia and digital tools to share their ideas, demonstrate their potential and take action in their communities. "Our global initiative, AYV is about enabling young people with critical skills and confidence that help them become productive and engaged members of the community," said Naresh Gupta, Managing Director, Adobe India, and Senior Vice-President, Print and Publishing Solutions Business Unit.

Currently, AYV-India includes 25 schools in the National Capital Region and Bangalore, which reaches out to more than 1000 children. The program enables the middle-aged and high-school aged youth to acquire the skills needed to create media projects, including videos, documentaries, digital photography, photo journalism, animations, websites, and multimedia. Rashmi Soni, Senior Communications Manager, Adobe India, said, "We are delighted to see the overwhelming response from India's youth. AYV has been a tremendous success and is growing larger every year."

This year, there were three public service announcements (PSAs) made by students of Rani Dutta Arya Vidyalaya on voting, for the 2009 Lok Sabha Elections. The film was broadcasted by local TV channels before the Election Day in Delhi.

Tarun Vij, Country Head, AIF said, "It is so amazing that young children are expressing their thoughts, concerns and lives in such a creative way. We need more such expression and creativity to make our society responsive to the need for progress and change".