Born in the coastal town of Bapatla, Andhra Pradesh, Stephen Anurag Prathipati who is fondly known as Kingsman had not experienced the social structures of castes in India until he started his bachelor in political science at Visakhapatnam. Unlike the average teenager, Stephen had spent most of his time watching documentaries and films of war times, history, and the philosophies of the Renaissance and tried to impersonate the themes in real-life.
“God plans in mysterious ways leading to marvelous avenues” is something Stephen believes in. Dropping out from Bachelor's degree in arts from Christ University in Bangalore and joining Dr. L. Bullayya College, Andhra University in Visakhapatnam has not only transformed his life but led to the unprecedented empowerment of students in the city of Vizag through his acute social work consciousness and activism.
A network of 2500+ youth and students was created by this young lad, which started with his group of friends from his class of political science who geared up to practically demonstrate the theories of democracy outside the classrooms by creating awareness and facilitating enrolment of nearly 900 first time voters in the district of Visakhapatnam. This laid the foundation for social work activism and paved the path to engineer a unique initiative called ‘Yes We Can’ organization, advocating the UN SDGs through youth civic engagement. This organization has pioneered international academic research conferences, youth parliaments, global road safety campaigns, Nepal earthquake relief fund and volunteering services to BRICS and CII Industrial Summits.
Stephen has strategized to empower students from marginalized and backward communities to explore global policies and ideas on sustainable development by establishing SDGs labs and expos at several schools in the state. This has mapped the organization’s efforts to an unparalleled height of social work.
Not all individuals or organizations could develop partnerships with international governmental agencies such as the UN and the British Deputy High Commission (UK Gov). It needs a great level of professional experience and networks and Stephen made it all happen at the age of 21 during his undergraduate studies. Stretching from research assistance to parliamentarians and delivery of climate action programs to developing paralegals in the state, a series of social empowerment services were rendered.
Stephen was awarded the King’s International Scholarship to pursue his second master’s in MSc Public Policy at King’s College London and interestingly, he has carried his interest in networking and social work to the great city of London and created a distinctive mark for the people of Telugu.
Recognizing his proposal and vision for sustainable farming and climate action in the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh, he has been awarded the prestigious Clinton Global Initiative 2020.
Stephen’s dream is to empower the communities in India. He argues that education and wisdom play a key role in developing individuals and this helps progress the economy of a nation. Therefore, he aims at establishing a think tank and a school for sustainable learning and development in the long run.
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