Three days. 325 young people. And a programme that asked a question most career guides never bother to answer — what do you actually do with a skill?
The Department of Youth Affairs (DYA) wrapped up its ‘Yuva Career Connect’ programme in Itanagar on 20 August, closing out an intense three-day initiative that ran from the 18th. And if the energy in the room was anything to go by, this wasn’t your average government seminar with PowerPoints and stiff speeches. This one got its hands dirty — literally.
Learning By Doing, Not By Listening
Over 325 young participants joined more than 20 resource persons and practitioners across a packed line-up of hands-on workshops. The sessions covered acting and performance, filmmaking, photography, video editing, colour grading, crochet, baking, beaded jewellery making, embroidery, Korean makeup and hairstyling, candle-making, tailoring, and more. Each workshop was led by working professionals and home-grown brands — people who aren’t just teaching a craft, but actually living off it. That distinction matters more than it sounds. There’s a big difference between someone who studied filmmaking and someone who runs a production house. Yuva Career Connect brought the latter into the room.
Brands From Home, Lessons From Life
Names like Nungnu Craft Studio, OvenYums, House of Macnok, 3rd Eye Films, Genesis 4 Production, GAMMI Handpoured Soy Candles, and Rikyir Romin Fashion Institute aren’t household names across the country — but in Arunachal Pradesh, they represent exactly the kind of homegrown entrepreneurship that young people rarely get to see up close. The resource persons didn’t just demonstrate techniques. They shared their journeys — the failed attempts, the slow starts, the moment something clicked and a hobby became a livelihood. That kind of honest storytelling is hard to replicate in any curriculum.
Beyond Government Jobs and Office Desks
One of the clearest messages running through the programme was this: a career doesn’t have to look the way your parents imagined it. The DYA was deliberate in designing Yuva Career Connect to push young people toward exploring pathways they might not have considered — not because conventional employment is wrong, but because it’s no longer the only option. A skill, when taken seriously and supported with the right opportunity, can become a profession. That’s not motivational fluff — it’s the lived reality of the practitioners who stood in front of those 325 participants.
Certificates, Applause, and a Closing That Felt Like a Beginning
The valedictory programme saw Sports and Youth Affairs Special Secretary Akshat Kaushal and Youth Affairs Director Ramesh Linggi present appreciation certificates to the resource persons — a small but meaningful gesture recognising that these practitioners gave something more than their time. They gave young people a clearer picture of what’s possible.
Three days is short. But sometimes, one conversation with the right person is all it takes to change the direction someone’s heading in. Yuva Career Connect may have concluded, but for many of the 325 who walked through those workshops, something is just getting started.
HASHTAGS
#YuvaCareerConnect #ArunachalPradesh #YouthEmpowerment #DYAArunachal #SkillDevelopment #Itanagar #CareerWorkshop #HandsOnLearning #CreativeCareers #NortheastIndia #HomeGrownBrands #YouthAffairs #Entrepreneurship #ArunachalYouth #VocationalTraining #FilmmakingWorkshop #AbotaniTV #MakeInArunachal #SkillIndia #YouthFirst
