Swabalamban is the initiative of Assam Don Bosco University to skill the youth of the areas surrounding the university campus as part of its commitment to building strong and resilient communities where social justice and dignity for all prevail. This programme, undertaken by the different Engineering Departments of the University along with the department of Social Work, aims to provide technical skills to youth to increase their employability as well as to make them self-employable.

It has been observed that several youth of the Azara Gaon Panchayat, where the Aazara Campus of the University is situated, are facing difficulty in securing suitable livelihood options. Traditionally dependent on fishing in the Deepor Beel for subsistence, the communities’ youth are unable to sustain on it due to lower returns and changing ecological conditions. In this context, the faculty members, staff and students of the University have set in motion the “Swabalamban” project to address this need of the unemployed youth of the area by training them in technical skills.

The first such training programme was conducted from 1 to 12 December 2014, in collaboration with Shailabala Biswas Education Foundation, Kolkata. The programme concentrated on Electrical house wiring, inverter making and installation. The Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE) along with the Departments of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) and Social Work of Assam Don Bosco University were involved in conducting the training programme. The Azara Gaon Panchayat played a proactive role in disseminating information and selecting suitable candidates. The programme had overwhelming response from the youth. A Total of 113 local youth (both boys and girls) applied for the training programme, and 10 among them were chosen for the first training session.

Till date, under the aegis of Swabalamban, a number of training programmes of this nature have been organized with the support of the following stakeholders:

• Departments involved for this programme are: Department of Civil Engineering, Departments of Computer Science & Engineering and Computer Application, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, and Department of Mechanical Engineering.
• Training Programmes include: Design of Solar Powered Chargeable LED Lamp, Electrical House Wiring, Training on Carpentry, Training on Masonry, DeskTop Publishing and PC maintenance, Training on Bar Bending, Training Programme On Plumbing, and Training on Welding, Fitting and Black smithy.
• All programmes are free of cost and sponsored by many organization like Bosco 87 Development Society, group of ex-AECians coming together to contribute in the name of ‘Debabrata Barman memorial trust’, Rotary Club of Guwahati, Assam Railway Employees Cooperative Association Ltd, Hills Woodcraft Pvt. Ltd, DS Systems Ltd, Aashaa Bora Foundation and Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) under the CSR scheme.
• 248 youths trained so far by faculty of School of Technology.