Celebrating the youth on this International Youth Day through a Gujarat Youth Conclave hosting insightful discussions, panels and workshops

Gandhinagar (Gujarat) [India], August 13 (ANI/ATK): The youth of today hold the potential to inspire change, to make our world peaceful and to strive for the world we dream of. To celebrate the brewing possibilities, talent and promise, this International Youth day, Gujarat Youth Forum, Elixir Foundation and UNICEF came together and organized the Gujarat Youth Conclave: Third Edition. The conclave was held at Courtyard by Marriott on August 12, 2022. The GYC 3.0 meaningfully engaged adolescents and young people in discussing ideas, setting priorities, deriving solutions, and implementing innovations.
The conclave kicked off with the inaugural session wherein Madhish Parikh, Presidential Awardee and founder of Elixir Foundation, talked about the importance of empowering the youth and creating opportunities and platforms for them to realize their potential. He discussed the initiative Young Leaders Lab taken up by Elixir in partnership with UNICEF wherein training is provided to the youth in different districts of Gujarat and also explained the importance of the role of youth. "Young people across the globe are facing critical learning loss and emotional and mental health trauma. Therefore, it is the responsibility of everyone to come together and prepare the youth to be ambassadors and pioneers of social change because they hold the key to progress and are the future of the world," said Ms Moira Dawa, Communication, Advocacy and Partnership Specialist, UNICEF during her Special Address. Praful Billore, founder of MBA Chaiwala motivated the audience with the wise words, "Youth are assets but in order to not become liabilities, they must work really hard." The Chief Guest of the event, Lochan Sehra, IAS and Municipal Commissioner, AMC aptly pointed out, "India is a dynamic country. The youth need to step up in the process of nation building since they possess the power and the skills to inspire change and help India progress."

The event then moved towards an insightful panel that focused on creating a supportive ecosystem for the young by empowering, enabling and elevating young minds. Rehan, a 16-year young changemaker moderated the session with a congregation of esteemed panellists. Amita Tandon, Education Specialist, UNICEF, discussed the importance and relevance of 21st-century skills. She educated the audience about the various life skills while explaining how they are interconnected. She further mentioned ways schools can incorporate these skills into their curriculum. Gaurav Juyal, Learning Experience Designer and former Host of Disney's Art Attack, expounded upon what design thinking is and how it is connected to a myriad of disciplines and professions and also the bits of intelligence proposed by Psychologist Howard Gardener. He further talked about the significance of achieving a balance between critical thinking and creativity to ensure success. Sharmila Ray, Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF, spoke about the importance of mental health, the prominent stressors faced by the youth today and seeking professional help. She further talked about how spreading the right information, calling out misinformation and propagating awareness can help destigmatize mental health. Lastly, she gave a pertinent message to the youth by saying, "Think through where you want to be and what you want to do and then just go for it, but always do everything you do with kindness."
The event then hosted a showcase presentation on Social Media for Good conducted by Yash Pise, Head of Business, Yuva Originals. He gave tips on how social media can be used to spread kindness, information and understanding and to amplify, engage and experiment with content. He mentioned an important saying by Nikhil Taneja, CEO, "Add to the conversation and not the noise." Following this perceptive presentation, a master workshop on Developing the spirit of Entrepreneurship was administered by Dheeraj Bhojwani, CEO, Atal Incubation Centre, Gujarat University (AIC-GUSEC Foundation). The workshop began by explaining the difference between an invention and an innovation. He explained what scalable startups are, and how product market fit helps a startup and broke down the overall process of business. After this highly informative workshop, GYC 3.0 hosted an exciting and calming musical performance by artist Tirth Thakkar who sang melodiously to the enthusiastic and receptive audience. The musical melodies and the enthused audience then paved the way for enlightening parallel workshops on photography and cybersecurity. The Cybersecurity workshop, conducted by Aakriti Tripathi, Education Specialist at Cyberpeace Foundation, spelt out ways in which adolescents can protect their data from fraud and malware. It elucidated how frauds are committed, what malware does to data and software and how personal information can be protected from such external threats. "Everyone should remember that 1930 is the helpline number for cybersecurity frauds and that this helpline should be immediately sought in such cases," Aakriti urged. The photography workshop was led by Milan Barad, Founder of Photophilics. Milan educated the audience on the important elements of photography and explained what makes good quality photographs and visual journeying through a camera lens.
Through its wonderful components and an active and keen audience, GYC 3.0 came one step closer to creating a world that expresses strong solidarity towards the youth and enables their empowerment for a better future.
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