Latest Updates - 2021

AMMACHI Labs and The Center for Women’s Empowerment & Gender Equality

Latest

Introduction

AMMACHI Labs (Amrita Multi Modal Applications and Human Computer Interaction) and the CWEGE (Center for Women’s Em powerment and Gender Equality) are two Research Centers within Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.

AMMACHI Labs works with technologies such as ICT, Virtual Reali ty, Augmented Reality and Haptics in the area of skill development and training. CWEGE, which also hosts the UNESCO Chair in Wom en’s Empowerment and Gender Equality, works to build capacity through technology aided skill development and digital literacy for income generation and socio-democratic empowerment.

AMMACHI Labs

Our Vision

To strengthen the economic fiber and contribute to social stabil ity of the nation by empowering India’s masses in a sustainable, cost-effective and scalable way by providing innovative techno logical solutions and resources for physical, vocational and social skill development.

Our Mission

Develop scalable and cost effective solutions to build skills to sig nificantly enhance a community’s capacity towards sustainable development through research and innovation.

Key activities under the Center include:

• Develop comprehensive learning tools such as e-content for training, simulators for skill development and augmentation devices for skill enhancement.

• Implement the developed solutions for underserved populations.

• Champion the significance of skill development and voca tional training at local, national and international levels at all educational levels including secondary schools.

• Promote education and research in latest technologies such as robotics, haptics, and virtual reality.

AMMACHI Labs Strategic Consultants

Ravi Mantha (Health Author and Expert)

Chad Kymal Chief (Techn0logy Officer - OMNEX)

Dr. Padma Jayaraman

Anand Selvakesari (Consumer Banking head - Citibank)

Dilip Chenoy (Secretary General of FICCI, former CEO of NSDC)

Sunita Sanghi (Skill E & MU - NITI Ayog)

Center for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality (CWEGE)

Our Vision

“Women and men are of equal value, like two wings of a bird. For without the two in perfect harmony, humanity cannot progress.”

- Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, Chancellor, Amrita University

Our Mission

The Center for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality seeks to increase women’s empowerment as an equitable approach to wards achieving gender equality  through participatory Action Re search, Implementation and Knowledge dissemination.

Key activities under the Center include:

• Master and PhD level courses

• Engagement in participatory action research projects to map women’s vulnerabilities

• Partner with AMMACHI Labs and other departments at Amri ta to develop and implement solutions, and to build capacity to address identified vulnerabilities

• Design and Develop tool kits to map vulnerabilities

• Collaborate with leading universities and institutions to wards the advancement of women’s empowerment

CWEGE Strategic Consultants

Dr. V. Rangen (CWEGE Co-Chair)

A. Gopinathan (CWEGE Co-Chair / UNO Inspector India)

Dr. Sidney Strauss (Professor Emr. TAU Israel)

Dr. Tarek Rashed (VP Civilizology, Adjunct Professor AMRITA) Anand Selvakesari (Consumer Banking Head - Citibank)

Dr. Sanghi (Ministry Skill Development Entrepreneuship)

Hon. Judge S. Chauhan (Mumbai High Court)

Dr. Sarthak Das (Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance; Harvard University)

Andy Carmone (Technical Advisor, Clinton Health Access Initiative) M. Jones (Consultant - UN Women)

The concerted approach of AMMACHI Labs and CWEGE to Wom en’s Empowerment is unique. We combine participatory approach es with data sciences and GIS technologies, to measure and map women’s vulnerabilities. Solutions are designed to address the leverage points that emerge from the systems map, providing con text-based solutions.

AMMACHI Labs and CWEGE have been at the forefront of research and development, partnering with various entities including the Government of India, UNESCO, UNDEF and UNICEF. Since its inception in 2009, AMMACHI Labs has worked with women in

Self-Help Groups (SHGs) across India through our Computerized Vocational Education and Training (CVET) and Life Enrichment Education (LEE). Our integrated approach is built on three pillars (Science, Aesthetics and Social Good) into the training while using technology as a foundation. This approach has been implemented through several projects since 2010. Such projects enabled us to reach over 30,000 people in villages in 21 States of India, either through training, empowerment and awareness interventions or engaging with local governments to improve sanitation conditions.

Since the release of our brochure in 2018, we are happy to an nounce several updates and new initiatives.

Updates & Initiatives

UNESCO Chair in Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (2020 - 2024)

“Empowering women through building strength in numbers in her community is an inclusive approach that can bring about a great change for her and in the whole of society,” says UNESCO Chairhold er and Amrita Professor, Dr. Bhavani Rao.

Since 2019, several key partnerships have been formed, fortifying our committment to addressing the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by developing solutions rooted in com passion driven research that tackle society’s vulnerabilities on na tional and global levels.

Skill Intelligence Lab

We are happy to announce that our UNESCO Chair in Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment has been renewed for anoth er term (2020-2024). Inspired by our Chancellor Amma, our AM MACHI Labs’ and Center for Women Empowerment and Gender Equality’s research, training and educational initiatives focus on strategies towards the empowerment of women and strengthening gender equality with the active and inclusive participation of our collaborating communities.

Through the Skill Intelligence Lab, AMMACHI Labs aims to study human performance through data driven models and research on the augmentation of human performance through technolo gy solutions that bring in multiple modalities such as virtual and augmented reality, and haptics. This work will set new trends in research on human skill performance augmentation in the con text of vocational education. We are conducting multi-disciplinary research on neurotechnology, cognitive sciences and informatics for performing skill capture, classifying human performance, de veloping personalized learning models based on learners mental state and the cognitive load the learners experience while learning and performing tasks, and consequently designing effective peda gogical interventions to improve human performance. The under lying goal is to uncover the DNA of teaching through an extensible data driven framework that measures and analyzes biophysical and neurocognitive parameters.

New Collaborations

In May 2019, an MoU was signed between The Science and Tech nology Education Center, Tel Aviv University and AMMACHI Labs, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. The MoU was between two UNESCO Chairs, UNESCO Chairholder on Technology, Internationalization and Education: Dr. Rafi Nachmias and UNESCO Chairholder on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: Dr. Bhavani Rao.

In recognition of various programs spearheaded by AMMACHI Labs and CWEGE, Amrita Vishwa Vidyappetham and UNICEF for malized the collaboration and signed an MOU in April, 2020. The partnership leverages the existing mainstreamed initiatives of both parties in select states to co-create and implement solutions at scale to mobilize communities, influence behavior, advocate with policymakers, and serve as moral guidance for the betterment of disadvantaged children in India.

Acknowledging AMMACHI Labs’ expertise in skill development evaluation research, in 2020, the National Skill Development Cor poration (NSDC) under the Ministry of Skill Development and En trepreneurship (MSDE) appointed AMMACHI Labs as an Empan elled Consultant for Research and Analytics.

COVID-19

As the world begins its transition into a post-Covid era, the up heaval caused by the pandemic becomes more visible in India’s vulnerable sections, with gender equality a key issue. Still CWEGE remains focused on the year 2030—the year the United Nations de clared as the target for Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

“Let us hope for a future where a day will not be needed to celebrate women, as they will be celebrated every day with a vision of gender equality already achieved,” said Dr. Bhavani Rao, UNESCO Chair on Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment. “The COVID disaster has pushed back a lot of gains, but with a heart and hope to make a difference, let’s renew our pledges and promises for a better world.”

CWEGE together with AMMACHI Labs launched several projects in collaboration with other prominent organizations.

Powered Air Purifying Respirator (PAPR) for frontline medical workers

AMMACHI Labs engineers Ayyappan Ajan and Vishnu Jayan de veloped an ultra low-cost respiratory protection system for doc tors and health workers on the frontlines, to honor and help the true heroes of our time. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was the doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers who were serving hu manity. So we looked into ways that we could develop a technol ogy solution that could serve their needs,” said engineer Vishnu Jayan. The innovation was designed by engineers during a time when PPE (personal protective equipment) "scarce, costly, and in great demand.

A PAPR (Powered Air-Purifying Respirator) uses a blower to pump fresh air through filter cartridges into the breathing zone of the person wearing the unit. The AMMACHI Labs team worked closely with doctors and pulmonary experts from the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) to test and refine the PAPR prototype. 20 PAPR kits, a user manual, and instructional videos were handed over to the doctors at AIMS, for further usability testing. Once feed back and design improvements have been incorporated, the PAPR will be productized by Omnex Inc.

“The harness is very comfortable to wear and houses the battery and the fan-filter assembly very well. I wore it continuously for over 6 hours yesterday and I had no physical discomfort.” -Dr. Mahesh KP, Pediatric Cardiologist, AIMS

The developed PAPR exceeded the standards set by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, and was recognized with a Certificate of Excellence by the Shangai Cooperaiton Orga nization (SCO - YSC 2020).

Associated publication:

“Design and Development of an ultra-low-cost PAPR for frontline medical workers for COVID-19 response” at IEEE R10 HTC 2020 on December 1, 2020

COVID Warriors Campaign

The Prime Minister of India recently announced that a “peo ple-driven” approach is what is needed to curb the pandemic and unveiled a new campaign called #COVIDWarriors. In support of this national campaign, AMMACHI Labs designed posters in sev eral Indian languages to raise awareness and support for those on the frontlines who keep us safe. The posters were shared with UNICEF India, Amrita Vidyalayam Schools, Amrita University

and also via Whatsapp in our villages to raise awareness in rural communities. The posters are in English, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam.

COVID-19 Instructional Videos

AMMACHI Labs developed e-content based awareness videos during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The content was pri marily used to support the staff of the housekeeping department at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and demonstrated the best practices to be followed while donning and doffing PPE. The videos also provided instruction on important safety and hygiene practices to be followed by specific groups such as nurses, medical and other cleaning staff working in the hospital, and provided tips for cleaning public spaces in the hospital. The videos were made available both in Malayalam and Hindi.

Amrita Mental Health Hotline

As India plunged into a lock-down like many other countries, the “new normal” threw everyone into a world of uncertainty and fear. Motivated by Chancellor Amma’s concern about the emotional dis tress many were experiencing due to the global pandemic and In dia’s national lockdown, students and staff of our UNESCO Chair’s MSW Program at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham started a telephone helpline to stay connected. The national helpline was in place from April to June 2020.

The planning and logistics team established a telephonic network to function remotely, and a system to triage calls, according to the need and urgency, to higher-level professionals. Master of Social

Work (MSW) students were trained as Helpline mental health workers. Within the first month we received 500+ calls of which more than 160 specifically pertained to mental health needs. The majority of callers reported distress related to a combination of issues, such as the lock down, financial troubles, medical needs, worry about their family, medication needs, delusional experienc es, and/or loneliness. Following the initial assessment, callers were then referred to the Department of Psychiatry and Depart ment of Psychology at Amrita Institute Medical Sciences, for fur ther support.

COVID-19 Awareness in Rural Villages & Mask Making for the Community

In March of 2020, in many of the rural villages and education centers that AMMACHI Labs & CWEGE are currently working in, our team members shifted their priorities from their regular work

to spreading awareness and education about COVID-19. They shared videos and explained preventative measures like proper hand-washing to the members of the community. In alignment with India’s effort to curb theCOVID-19 pandemic, students and staff from the Amrita PMKVY center in Meppadi, Kerala collectively stitched over 1000 face masks from the safety of their homes. The design follows a recommended pattern advised by health experts. Along with the masks, gloves were also made. With the help of AYUDH volunteers, the masks and gloves were distributed to es sential service locations such as gas stations and banks. They were also distributed to electrical workers and the police.

Learning Technologies

E-Content on NSDC’s eskillindia.org platform

opment Corporation (NSDC) under the Ministry of Skill Develop ment and Entrepreneurship. This e-Learning course is designed to provide the learner with the necessary skills, knowledge and atti tudes required to become a Pradhan Mantri Arogya Mitra, a front line health service professional who serves as the first contact for beneficiaries of the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, at the empaneled health care provider. They also provide patient support in the form of enrollments, insurance scheme in formation, claims assistance, etc. The project was rolled out in May 2019 The course was delivered in three languages - English, Hindi, and Malayalam. As of August 2021, more than 52,000 candidates have enrolled in this self paced learning course through the eskill india.org of NSDC.

Amrita Pharmacy

AMMACHi labs has published over 28 courses on eskillindia.org platform. The courses range from Plumbing, Two wheeler services, Tailoring and Rural Toilet Builder, in several regional indian lan guages. As of August 2021, over 50,000 learners have enrolled for these courses.

Arogya Mitra

AMMACHI Labs developed e-content to train Pradhan Mantri Ar ogya Mitra recruits, in partnership with the National Skill Devel

The Amrita Pharmacy game based e-learning course was devel oped by AMMACHI Labs for pharmacists at Amrita Institute of Med ical Sciences Hospital (AIMS). The primary objective of the course was to train newly recruited pharmacists and enhance their work output and minimise errors, through a game based learning ap proach.  Real world scenarios were implemented in an interactive game environment, allowing the learners to test their knowledge and skills, as well as receive valuable feedback on their actions.

Additionally, the course helps to understand important concepts vital to Pharmacy, as well as to successfully implement these con cepts into various roles. The course was successfully launched at AIMS in July 2021.

VR Scaffolding Simulator

Scaffolds are essentially temporary structures constructed with metal pipes and panels and used by construction workers to per form various tasks like plastering, painting, etc while erecting a building. Scaffolds are now integral to the construction industry, with approximately 65% of the workforce working on scaffolds. Scaffolding is high-risk and physically demanding work with nu merous subtleties that are difficult to master. Current scaffolding training methodologies struggle to replicate the real-world con ditions – one in which wind velocity, weight limits, working at heights,  tool placement and constrained workspaces play a ma jor role. These conditions are extremely difficult to recreate in a classroom setting with traditional tools. AMMACHI Labs in collab oration with Omnex and Shapoorji Pallonji, has initiated a project to build a Virtual Reality based scaffolding training solution. The training simulator will enable students to virtually experience an accurate simulation of scaffold erecting, dismantling and various safety scenarios. The exercises may be performed by students indi vidually or collaboratively in groups of up to 4 people. The training and evaluation modes will enable instructors to guide and assess the students in a multitude of scenarios, on an individual and team

level. The AI-based Skill Analytics module will allow for accurate measurement of the students' proficiency, and will support per sonalized feedback, assessment and certification. The initial ver sion of the product is expected to be released by December 2021.

Communication Skills Training Tool

In the implementation of our vocational training courses, we ob served that rural students with rudimentary literacy levels (a large part of our target population), often suffer from lack of confidence, which impacts their ability to effectively engage with officials in local government and financial institutions. The advantages that tools such as VR lend to soft skill training and development is gaining prominence in various disciplines and domains such as education and healthcare. However, the extent to which VR tools may be leveraged to train and assess effective communication competencies among the youth demographic in rural India is yet to be explored. Through this, our most recent project, AMMACHI Labs is leveraging VR as a medium to introduce participants to various situations where they are required to exercise effective communication. This addresses AMMACHI Labs’ concern that ef fective communication is a skill required by India's rural youth.

Associated Publication: Alkoyak-Yildiz, Meltem, Sooraj K. Babu, Parameswari Anitha, and M. V. Mukil. “Was It Real?”-The Effects of Virtual Reality Communication Skills Training Among University Students in India.” In 2019 IEEE Tenth International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E), pp. 278-279. IEEE, 2019.

Humanitarian Technologies

Pepe the Social Robot

Pepe is a hand-shaped robot with a small video screen mounted behind its green plastic exterior. Installed on a wall near school washrooms, its purpose is to interact with children as they pass by the sink, and encourage them to practise proper handwashing. The robot was jointly designed by AMMACHI Labs researchers and en gineers and the University of Glasgow in Scotland. Its pilot project in the Wayanad District of Kerala has proven to be a huge success.

Using the local language of Malayalam, Pepe increased levels of handwashing with soap, and inspired better hygiene techniques by 40%. Teachers say that children between 5 and 12 years of age have made it a habit to visit and wash their hands at least three times during the school day.

“It is fun. The robot interacts with children as a friend,” said head teacher of the participating school, PR Usha. “We found its social messages have a deep impact on youngsters. Now at least 95% of the students know when to wash their hands using soap. The nov elty and local language factors made the robot an instant success.”

Dr. Amol Deshmukh with the University of Glasgow said, “Rural populations in developing countries have limited exposure and access to technologies due to their remote geography and reduced economic background. Social robots can potentially create a posi tive impact on their lives. Handwashing with soap is an easy, effec tive and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives.”

Pepe is now set for roll out throughout India. In addition to Kerala, officials in the states of Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu and Chattisgarh have expressed interest to install the robot in their schools and villages.

Amrita Unmanned Aerial Systems for Disaster Response

Researchers at Amrita University have embarked on a targeted payload delivery system carried on a multirotor vertical take-off and landing UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) This addresses the pressing need for a medical payload dropping solution deploy able during disasters like the 2018 Kerala floods and frequent flash floods in Uttarakhand. This project seeks to draw from the disaster response expertise of the State Disaster Management Au thority coupled with aerial robotics engineers at Amrita University to deliver a scalable, effective and indigenous solution. The team of researchers at Amrita has so far developed and tested different UAV variants for carrying various payload sizes of diverse configu rations for endurance of flight.

Projects

Amrita Gender Conversations - Mental Health and Gender Sensitization Workshops

In March 2021, the Center for Women’s Empowerment and Gen der Equality, completed a one-month workshop series on gender awareness and resilience with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the Srinagar Sector, Kashmir. The Amrita Gender Work shop Series consisted of two phases of training in which the team from Amrita trained and certified master trainers of the Indian Armed Forces.

The master trainers included Assistant Commandants and Deputy Commandants with CRPF and four Majors from the Indian Army. The CWEGE team also designed and provided support for the sub sequent phase of training, in which the master trainers conducted the TTT (train the trainer) sessions for more than 500 inspectors and jawans with CRPF. The new trainers will educate more than 25,000 CRPF jawans over a six-month period.

Director Dr. Bhavani Rao R. and her team from Amrita also orga nized a one-day workshop for the commandants of various bat talions. In addition, the CWEGE team participated in the Interna tional Women’s Day celebrations at one of the CRPF battalions in Srinagar and interacted with the wives of officers and jawans.

Inspector General of CRPF in the Srinagar Sector, Charu Sinha distributed the Master Trainer and Course completion certificates to the successful master trainers on March 12, 2021. Following the

workshop, the Amrita team designed an app to monitor the third phase of training, as well as create video-based content to support the scaling of the training. As part of the workshop series, a custom training module will be designed and offered to the spouses and family members of CRPF jawans in the coming months.

About the Amrita Gender Conversation Workshop Series  The Gender Conversation Workshop addresses the issue of gender equality, masculinity, and mental health at the individual, house hold, and community levels. The ultimate purpose is to promote the wellbeing of the CRPF servicemen and women and improve their overall morale. This is a unique program that involves awareness building and training to encourage healthy dialogue on gender and mental health among the CRPF personnel and their families. The program also seeks to promote the trained CRPF personnel, and their families, as positive role models on the community level.

The workshops are split into two distinct sections:

1. Mental wellness and overall well-being Includes several mental health sessions to strengthen resil ience and help develop lasting mental strength. Amrita offers re search-supported tools to assist in understanding how the mind works and how to manage it. Participants learn how thoughts, emotions, and behaviors interact and how our desires and expec tations of others can make the difference between a life of happi ness or of distress. The IAM Meditation Technique and personal reflection activities are also taught to help develop inner peace.

2. Gender Sensitization

This section covers a range of topics such as masculinity reflec tions, improving family dynamics and health, and shared financial decision-making.

• Family Wellbeing: designed to bring together and discuss various aspects of family, including fostering engagement among members,  introspection to understand the role of being an ideal human being in building a functional family, gender at home and work, systematic self-reflection in resolving conflicts, and encouraging gender-inclusive deci sion-making within the family.

• Masculinity Reflections: aims to inspire the participants to discuss masculinity and talk about what it means to be a man in India, as well as mens’ responsibility to ensure social harmony. The activities slowly introduce topics to help discuss these issues and come up with solutions to help par ticipants become happier in their family lives. The intention is to support all family members through these activities.

• Financial Literacy: offers a specific inclusive approach to financial decision-making to enhance and support family well-being. This workshop demonstrates that the participa tion of family members in money management is construc tive and helpful for the overall harmony of the family.

Strengthening Child Protection Systems and Services

By invitation, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham partnered with UNICEF in a project to enhance awareness, knowledge, and skills of those working with vulnerable children, including those residing in Child Care Institutions (CCIs). The project, entitled "Strengthen Child Protection Systems and Structures to Deliver Preventive and Responsive Child Protection Services, Kerala and Tamil Nadu," had two primary objectives:

creating educational materials, and producing regular reports of our work to UNICEF. In line with the project’s objectives, the CWEGE delivered several outcomes:

• Created two educational videos to raise awareness and pre vention of child sexual abuse in the family.

• Developed an information booklet (FAQ) for CCI staff to help them to understand and productively work with children who have experienced early life adversities.

• Conducted two 3-day events, each consisting of a 2-day work shop and one Thematic Consultation day, all led by national and international experts in their fields.

• Visited numerous CCIs (at least 40-50), getting to know the staff and children, and inviting them to attend the UNICEF-sponsored events.

• Engaged with NGOs and Kerala Government Social Justice Stakeholders, including members of the Child Welfare Com mittee in 3 districts, and Director of the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

Overall the project was highly successful with more than 100 at tendees at the combined workshops, who shared positive feed back both regarding the educational materials and the knowledge shared and learned at the workshops.

AWESOME - Accelerating  Empowerment through System Oriented Model Expansion

1. To strengthen family support, enhance reintegration with families, and promote alternative care for children.

2. Reduce, prevent, and address all forms of violence against children in families, communities, and in institutions.

The project involved meeting with NGOs and government officials, visiting CCIs in Kerala, hosting free 3-day educational workshops,

AWESOME is a solution model for delivering effective transforma tional change and durable interventional strategies towards the empowerment of women and strengthening gender equality in communities. AWESOME has been developed and tested by the Center for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality (CWEGE) at Amrita University, India’s first UNESCO Chair in Women’s Em powerment and Gender Equality. AWESOME’s main pillars include Research & Development, Grassroots Actions, Community Re sources, and Supporting Technologies.

THE AWESOME MISSION

To deliver transformative action rooted in research across all sus tainability pillars and geographic contexts to empower women to leverage their resources, to live free of discrimination in healthy and safe environments, and to enjoy access to quality education, as well as cultural, political and socioeconomic equality.

Activity Areas

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Focus on holistic interventions that address the 6 primary dimen sions of women’s empowerment: Economic Vitality, Environmen tal Quality, Society–Politics–Culture, Safety & Security, Education, and Health.

SUPPORTING TECHNOLOGY

Implement a technology platform loaded with tools and applica tions in support of field mobility, community certification, funding traceability, and advocacy programs to achieve self-reliance.

GRASSROOTS ACTION

Deliver durable women’s empowerment interventions along the 6 dimensions at the individual, household and community levels.

COMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTERS

Engage local personnel to evaluate women’s empowerment con text-relevant issues, and monitoring implementations of several key performance indicators to optimize the impact of the imple mented interventions.

Associated Publication:

Gressel, C. M., Rashed, T., Maciuika, L. A., Sheshadri, S., Coley, C., Kongeseri, S., & Bhavani, R. R. (2020). Vulnerability mapping: A conceptual framework towards a context-based approach to women’s empowerment. World development perspectives, 20, 100245.

ICT and AI based Implementation Tools and Solutions

As a part of AWESOME’s Priority Program areas, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have been effectively integrated to the implementation strategy to

harness the potential of mobile and cloud technologies. This is rel evant in terms of rural reachability. ICT has been deployed in our work in four primary areas:

Monitoring Grass Root Actions

Diligent monitoring and activity tracking are important elements of all our projects implemented in the field. Different community projects are being undertaken and deployed under the CWEGE’s Women’s Empowerment initiatives across the 101 villages. In or der to support remote monitoring of implemented programs and evaluation of impact on the targeted communities, researchers at CWEGE developed a daily-tracker app that is user-friendly and in tegrates with cloud-based databases.

Digitisation of Participatory Methodologies

To deliver transformative action rooted in research across all sus tainability pillars and geographic contexts to empower women to leverage their resources, live free of discrimination in healthy and safe environments, and enjoy access to quality education, cultur al, political and socioeconomic equality.

Research in Computational Social Science

Focus on holistic interventions that address the six primary di mensions of women’s empowerment: Economic Vitality; Envi ronmental Quality; Society, Politics & Culture; Safety & Security; Education; and Health. The domain of CSS provides techniques for investigating social and behavioral relationships and interac tions through social simulation, modeling, network analysis, and media analysis.

Data and Analytical Services

The data gathered through different applications are consumed by the program managers, intervention designers and researchers for further analysis. The qualitative data gathered are processed through text analytics, topic modeling and sentimental analysis to understand the implications hidden in the data. Also the dash board and various reports created and presented through the web application allows better management and administration of the field interventions.

The Makerspace

The Makerspace team from AMMACHI Labs was thrilled to hear about the recent honorary title, “Star Atal Tinkering Lab of the Year,” bestowed upon an Atal Tinkering Lab (ATL) that the team set up and mentored. Akshay N., Gayathri M., and Parvathy Krish nan (Amrita Alumni) were selected by the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) as “Mentors of Change,” for their efforts in helping make the lab into a state of the art space for students. In 2019, the Maker space team inspired the establishment of several clubs such as the Student Aeromodelling Club and the Disaster Management Club.

manitarian applications such as providing emergency medical relief during disasters like the Kerala floods that we witnessed in 2018.” - Madhumati Anand

The Stanford University’s 2018 FabLearn Global Excellence Practi tioner Award has been awarded to Akshay Nagarajan of AMMACHI Labs, in recognition of his achievements and efforts to advance maker education and for his exemplary commitment to outreach, connecting communities and bringing equity to education in the rural communities in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh.

DST Digital@ikya Project: Empowering School Children in 21st Century Skills

Four students, who were mentored and coached by AMMACHI Labs’ Makerspace team, presented their innovations and research at Fablearn Asia 2020, and gained national recognition through an experiential science innovation competition called the Raman Awards. Two students were selected for the national finals and one student became the “all India winner” in the junior category. Amidst the challenges of COVID-19, the AMMACHI Labs team pro vided several online mentoring sessions to encourage children to keep innovating and devising out-of-the box ideas.

“Because of Atal Tinkering Labs, we had a chance to be part of a student aero-club and disaster preparedness club in our school. In these clubs, our Atal mentors from AMMACHI Labs are teaching us how to make our own drones and innovate using drones for hu

India’s National Education Policy 2020 focuses on the development of 21st-century skills in schools. In line with this vision, AMMACHI Labs initiated the skills for schools program in 2015 to stimulate creativity, innovation and promote digital technology as a building material.

Building upon our experience in providing skills for schools, AMMACHI Labs is providing training to 1000 children across 20 schools through the Digital@ikya Project, an initiative funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST). The Digital@ ikya Project is a series of 21st century skills workshops offered on line and aimed at building the capacity of India’s school children. The workshop series consists of the following topics: Responsive Webdesign and development, Social media awareness and safe spaces, and Interactive media of the 21st century. Through the workshops, students will learn the fundamentals of design think ing, website development, video making and editing, Youtubing, Blogging, and cyber safe behavior practices.

Amrita PMKVY

In 2019, Amrita Vishwa Vidyappetham was selected by the Gov ernment of India’s Ministry of Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) to be an implementing agency of the PMKVY-Special ini tiative 2.0. The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) 2016-20 program, which translates to the “Prime Minister’s Skill Development initiative, is the MSDE’s largest skill development

Stanford

and flagship initiative. Targeting India’s designated Aspirational Districts and other socio-economically under-resource rural com munities, the PMKVY-Special initiative is dedicated to ensuring youth (aged 18 - 35) receive equal opportunity to become formally skilled and employed.

AMMACHI Labs and CWEGE, with garnered experience in deliver ing ICT-enabled skill development to rural and under-resourced populations, will take the lead in driving the implementation of vocational training at the three new JSS training sites: Vizianaga ram, Andhra Pradesh, Kalahandi, Odisha, and the East Khasi Hills, Meghalaya. The three new JSS centers under Amrita will train over 5,000 people each year, 1800 per training location.

As an implementing agency of the initiative, Amrita established PMKVY training centers in nine locations spanning six districts across five states in India. Towards the objective of establishing a culture of gender equity, Amrita PMKVY aimed to enrol a greater percentage of female students, who represent the most under-rep resented population within India’s vocational training landscape. Courses offered through Amrita- PMKVY consist of the following: Automotive Service Technician (Two and Three Wheelers), Plumb er General, Self Employed Tailor, General Duty Assistant, and Do mestic Data Entry Operator. All of the vocational courses offered at the Amrita PMKVY centers were delivered through AMMACHI Labs’ ICT-enabled and life skills integrated teaching-learning format.

Weathering a series of climatic events such as floods, cyclones, and even the global COVID-19 pandemic, students and staff of Am rita PMKVY demonstrated their resilience by often being the first in their community to leverage their learned vocational and life skills to pitch in with relief and recovery efforts.

Amrita JSS

The Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS) - Institute Of People’s Education, is an initiative launched by the Government of India to provide vo cational training to the most vulnerable sections of the society, so that they can become self-sufficient. Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham is partnering with our parent organization and with the Govern ment of India’s Jan Sikshan Sansthan (JSS) centers. Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham will work with the Mata Amritanandamayi Chari table Trust, to enable the JSS centers with latest technology and practices. Funded by the Government of India, JSS aims to provide vocational training to non-literates, neo-literates as well as school dropouts in rural regions by identifying skills that have a relevant market in the respective regions.

The JSS centers, as per the formal initiative, will target learners aged 15 - 45 years old, people who are illiterate, neo-literate, and those with rudimentary education. JSS places emphasis on popu lations that come from tribal areas, belonging to Scheduled Caste, Schedule Tribe, Minority and Below Poverty households. As an initiative of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneur ship (MSDE), courses offered through the JSS will be aligned with the National Skill Qualification Framework, helping to ensure that learners receive formal skill certification under the MSDE, and pre pare them for enhanced employment opportunities.

The Wadi Project - Sustainable Livelihood De velopment for Tribal Families

AMMACHI Labs has been appointed by NABARD as Principal Im plementing Agency for the Integrated Tribal Development Project entitled “Orchard / WADI Based approach for strengthening live lihoods of tribal families in Hindol block of Dhenkanal district, Odisha”.

This project aims to develop and implement a comprehensive strat egy for sustainable development of 500 tribal families located in 9 villages in the Hindol block of Dhenkanal District, Odisha. It envis ages the development of a total 500 acres of orchards, i.e., one-acre per family. The main crops will include mango and cashew trees, planted at a suitable spacing, with pulses, vegetables, and spices as intercrop, which will generate interim income to the WADI ben eficiaries during the initial gestation period of the fruit trees.

The primary objectives and deliverables of the project include the following:

• Horticulture Development

• Soil Conservation

• Water Resource Development

• Training & Capacity Building, especially for women and landless stakeholders

• Institutional building, through Farmer Producers Organiza tions (FPOs).

Along with AMMACHI Labs, Livelihood Alternatives, Odisha, as well as the School of Agricultural Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyap eetham, and Tel-Aviv University, Israel, will be associated with the implementation of the project.

Greening the Mobile Technology Lifecycle

This project transcends the gender divide by training women in vo cational education, entrepreneurship and e-waste management. These are fields of work dominated by men in India and around

the world. Greening the Mobile Technology Lifecycle will enable women to become empowered stakeholders between individual households and the mobile phone industry. It will be launched in the states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

The project’s 3-pronged solution seeks to economically and dig itally empower adult women (age 18-35) in rural India towards the socio-cultural and environmental empowerment of entire communities.

The objectives and expected outcomes of the project are to:

1. Foster Women’s Entrepreneurship in Mobile Phone/Tablet Repair and Maintenance towards Women-Centric Socio-Eco nomic Empowerment.

2. Incubate Women Entrepreneurs’ Mobile Phone/Tablet Repair Businesses towards Women-Centric Digital Empowerment and Equality.

3. Implement a Women-developed & led E-waste Management Strategy towards Socio-Cultural and Environmental Empow erment (Refuse, Reduce, Repair, Recycle, Reduction).

SMART SHGs

Women’s Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in India face a multitude of challenges to success, including socio-cultural, economic and po litical factors. A multi-dimensional approach is required to effec tively provide the support and assistance they require. The SHGs with whom we work face many challenges in terms of accounting, choice of beneficiaries, loan interest negotiation and managing de linquency, and have requested our support on financial practices and business training.

Our project aims to pilot an efficient and innovative, technol ogy-enhanced business training model to contribute to the re sponsible, socio-economic empowerment of 750 Women through 75 Self-Help Groups ( SHGs ) in Northern India, more specifi cally the Hindi-speaking belt (Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Chattisgarh, Gujarat).

Traditional SHGs become “SM2ART SHGs,” i.e. SHGs that have Sustainable Mentorship & Management and achieve social respon sibility using technology and training. To achieve this goal, the project leverages the following 2-pronged approach:

1. An Innovative 3-layered Training Model based on our past work and experience, using technology to provide (i) Voca tional, (ii) Life Skills and (iii) Entrepreneurship training to rural women in SHGs. With training, the women will become equipped to improve their microfinance activities, diversify their projects, and venture into business.

2. A Mentorship System Combined with Technology: SHG leaders will be trained and certified as mentors to support and reach out to other SHGs with the help of computerized training content and a multi-purpose, mobile app for SHG performance.

WISE 2.0

In response to the massive floods in Kerala in 2018, the WISE (Women In Sustaining the Environment) Project 1.0 was designed and implemented to empower women as sustainability officers in rural communities. Program activities promoted women’s empow erment and sustainable water governance by supporting women’s participation in the choice, maintenance, and management of wa ter resources along with other sustainable development practices, using technology.

Based on the success and lessons learned from the pilot, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning demonstrated potential in addressing the persistent challenge of making water a safe re source in rural India. The role of women is also essential, as they are the ones traditionally entrusted with the role of managing wa ter in rural villages.

WISE 2.0 will empower cadres of Women Water Officers (WWO) with the tools and skills required to assess and monitor water quality at household and community scales, and also leverage the latest technologies, including AI and Machine Learning.

The trained WWOs will be trained to crowdsource and use lo cal data using simple measurement technologies developed by CWEGE, so that they can advise and mobilize their communities around water usage and safety. The WWOs will be supported by AI tools to identify areas to monitor water quality and prioritise pa rameters to monitor. This work is foundational towards a compre hensive water quality assessment dataset from each of the selected communities. Women will be able to monitor water quality and to correctly identify parameters, as well as help in decision-making towards policy formation, ensuring that their communities have access to safe drinking water.

4Ward

The 4WARD Project strives to design and demonstrate sustainable technological solutions that address wastewater issues of Urban Water Systems (UWS), particularly in secondary urban cities. Our prior experience and research indicate that technological interven tions designed without considering socio-institutional issues gen erally fail to sustain, calling for co-designed solutions. Therefore, the 4WARD Project takes a participatory approach towards the ideation, design, and development of solutions to address the fol lowing water related issues in the following four cities: water and wastewater (Safale-Palghar); water supply, wastewater services and groundwater pollution (Ludhiana); groundwater pollution (Haldia), and flood management (Kochi). With expertise in capac ity development and translating technology-based interventions to field implementation, researchers at CWEGE will contribute to the 4Ward Project, by designing and executing the Needs Assess ment and Community Engagement strategies and supporting the deployment of water solutions.

Vastra Chakra

Sustainable fashion refers to clothing that is designed, manu factured, distributed, and used in ways that are environmentally friendly. The fast fashion cycle is far from sustainable, because it depletes the Earth’s natural resources and workers around the world at exponential rates, resulting in an overwhelming amount of waste. Vastra Chakra endeavors to empower rural women with skill development in up-cycling old clothing in a sustainable way. The project targets learners with basic pattern making and tailoring skills, a majority of whom were previously trained through AMMA CHI Labs’ training programs in 101 villages. Due to apparent chal lenges of COVID-19 and the global pandemic, the Vastra Chakra project was designed to be delivered completely online, wherein women from target rural communities also enhance their capac ity to operate and learn through digital technology. The first-level of the online training program was successfully completed with participants from 11 villages across the states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat. The first training cohort will in-turn pass on their knowledge and expertise to other women in their respective villag es. The project focuses on creating awareness about textile waste management as a step in conservation of nature, and instilling cre ativity, along with providing the techniques and ideas to upcycle old sarees, t-shirts, shirts, pyjama pants, jeans, etc into kurtis, kids dresses, home textile products and much more in a creative way.

Case Studies

ICT Enabled Skill Development Pilot Implementation

With gained expertise in ICT-enabled vocational content creation and implementaiton, AMMACHI Labs has served as a consultant on various national level skill development initiatives.

CSC Pilot

This pilot project was initiated by Common Service Centers (CSC) to pilot the eLearning courses developed by AMMACHI Labs to validate its effectiveness, gather feedback from the students and trainers on  course effectiveness and develop a strategy to scale the eLearning courses to CSC centers across India. The Optical Fiber Splicer course was selected for the pilot and was organized at the CSC E-Governance Centre in the Haridwar Distrct of Uttarakhand. 10 Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) from different villages in Ha ridwar were identified as students and trained in both the essential technical and employability skills required for their job roles.

ITI Pilot

This pilot project was initiated by the Directorate of General Train ing (DGT) under the MSDE to pilot the national ITI Blended Train ing system (AMPLE) with eLearning content developed by AMMA CHI Labs to validate its effectiveness, and gather feedback from the students and trainers on the platform and course effectiveness, and develop a strategy to scale the AMPLE platform nationally. Tai loring and Motor Mechanic courses were selected for the pilot. The courses were deployed at ITI Pusa and NST Chennai. The trainers and students were identified by the respective ITIs. They were suc cessfully trained in both the essential technical and employability skills required for the job role by the Amrita Team in association with the DGT.

International Pilot Deployment of Motorcycle Repair, Rwanda

AMMACHI Labs travelled to Rwanda to pilot its ICT-enabled mo torcycle repair course for the first time outside of India, in both formal and non-formal learning settings. Overall, 25 learners from two separate locations took part in the dual pilot: 20 students from the Integrated Polytechnic Regional College (IPRC), a premier vo cational training institute in Kigali, and five students from the Cir cle de Sportiff slum, located in the city’s outskirts.

The pilot at the IPRC was conducted in partnership with Step Inno vations Africa (Step), and consisted of students that were already

enrolled in a three-year diploma course in automotive engineering when they were selected for the training. “Digital learning sim plifies the amount of teaching. When students are watching the video, they cannot be distracted and are engaged. It also aids the trainer to use less energy, clarify points and help students under stand what they learned from the videos. This is a good manner of teaching and I think our government should implement this,” said Frederick, an IPRC Instructor.

learning backgrounds, and the urgent need for pathways to pro ductive employment through accessible, high quality skill devel opment. The pilot deployments followed AMMACHI Labs’ unique ICT enabled and life skills integrated methodology, which was identified by UNESCO-UNEVOC as a practice that could be repli cated in low-resourced communities.

Transformation of Waste into Plastic Bricks

The pilot in the Circle de Sportiff slums emerged spontaneously and in response to requests from the community to give people a chance at gaining skilled employment. “I’m thankful for where you have brought us to,” said Deborah S., a course student from Circle de Sportiff. “We are committed and going to pursue this training and go even further, so that we can achieve something and develop our own country.” Given Rwanda’s high rate of poverty and unem ployment, local leaders and community members said that help ing the youth there was crucial.

The project was the first of its kind in Rwanda. It highlighted the use of ICT in providing vocational training to individuals of diverse

The amount of plastic waste that is disposed of in landfills, is in creasing at an alarming rate due to increases in population and consumption. The requirement to evolve and modernize in order to maintain economic well being, often comes at the cost of serious harm to the environment. Motivated to find a sustainable solution, Harish Mohan, Ammachi Labs Research Associate and Environ mental Engineer explored ways to transform plastic waste, a major contributor to solid municipal waste, into construction materials. Through an iterative research and development process, Harish and team produced lightweight, interlocking concrete blocks by developing Low-Densisty Polyethylene-Sand compositie, as an al ternative to mainstream construction material. Mechanical proper ties such as split tensile strength, compression strength, durability in terms of water absorption and thermal conductivity were stud ied in detail.

Associated Publication: Mohan, H. T., Whitaker, F., Mohan, R., & Mini, K. M. (2021). Performance assessment of recycled LDPE with sand fillers Materials Today: Proceedings, 42, 1526-1530.

Campaigns

ORANGE THE WORLD

UN Women and partners around the world participated in 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence (25 November – 10 De cember 2020) under the theme of ‘Orange the World: Raise Money to End Violence against Women and Girls’. Our UNESCO Chair in Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment at the Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, along with AMMACHI Labs, galvanized many com munities of women and men from our villages to record short vid eo messages. Several participants recorded inspiring messages for social media that denounced gender based violence and called for unity and activism. After 16 Days of campaigning, their voices were heard and their messages travelled around the world!

UNESCO New Delhi formally acknowledged these efforts by send ing a letter of commendation to Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham for the inspiring messages and the completion of a very successful campaign.

Film Competition: Gender Etiquettes and Behavior Change

The first edition of what will be an annual film competition was launched to address gender etiquettes and behavior change. Me dia portrayal plays an important role in setting new norms, and so the competition aims to engage students at Amrita on how to increase awareness about gender-sensitive issues. The panel of judges includes Indian director Shekhar Kapur, who has twice won Academy Awards; Hollywood producer Jeff Robinov; the Addition al Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh Radha Chauhan; publicist, TV personality and author Kelly Cutrone; and advertising producer Jani Guest.

Choose to Challenge

Happy International Women’s Day! This year, women and men from our villages in India pledged to challenge inequality and call out gender bias. Our MSW students also participated in the challenge.

Events

PARWEE

On September 15th, 2020 The Center for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality and Civilizology co-hosted a remarkable we binar between women entrepreneurs and institutional experts to discuss the Priority Action Roadmap for Women’s Economic Em powerment in the wake of COVID-19 (PARWEE).

Panelists:

Dilip Chenoy Secretary General of FICCI, former CEO of NSDC Rajesh Agrawal Executive Director, India Trade Promotion Organisation, Department of Commerce, GOI

Anand Selvakesari Head-US Consumer Banking at Citigroup, Inc.

Meg Jones Former Chief, Economic Empowerment, UN Women Ela Lonescue Partnership Specialist with UN Women Kuiljeit Uppaal Image Scientist & Impact Strategist, CEO-Krea Bhavani Rao UNESCO Chair on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment and Director of AMMACHI Labs and CWEGE

The event followed a series of interviews and workshops in which women entrepreneurs co-created knowledge with researchers regarding their coping actions in the wake of COVID-19, lessons learnt and needs. Women entrepreneurs are facing this unprece dented economic crisis with much resilience and looking for solu

tions to revive their business and support people they employ. The findings that emerged from this co-creation process were compiled in a common wish list which was the subject of discussion during the webinar. Seven women representatives addressed the panelists with one item of the wish list which related to access to public and private finances, opportunities for capacity building, marketing, public-private partnerships, and forming advocacy groups.

UNESCO Chair-holder Dr. Bhavani Rao discussed the future plans to build and grow the community, including providing access to all resources shared by the panelists (including its brief assessment), and the ongoing research and publications, as well as future col laboration. “As we have witnessed, COVID-19 has exacerbated the vulnerabilities in the system making it important to address them immediately in light of the times to come,” said Dr. Bhavani Rao. “The study shed light on the vulnerabilities but it also revealed great resilience and adaptability from the women who pivoted their business strategies to ride the times. However, this does not make their struggle any less significant. If anything, it makes it more so.”

The power of collective empowerment emerged as a key outcome of the webinar, as participants leveraged their voices while engag ing with institutional stakeholders. Gender equal access to financ es and economic opportunities were also largely discussed.

“I think that something that is very important is an accountability framework which shares best practices. I would like to commend the Center for Women’s Empowerment & Gender Equality on an excel lent publication about vulnerability mapping they just put out. We need to recognize that  women’s economic impact is part of a bundle of overall issues which are not always unpacked.” - Meg Jones, For mer Chief, Economic Empowerment, UN Women

Associated Publication: Bonin, S., Singh, W., Suresh, V., Rashed, T., Uppaal, K., Nair, R. and Bhavani, R.R. (2021), "A priority action roadmap for women's eco nomic empowerment (PARWEE) amid COVID-19: a co-creation approach", International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/ IJGE-09-2020-0148

UNESCO Colloquium

Amrita’s UNESCO Chair in Women’s Empowerment & Gender Equality hosted the first international colloquium from December 17-19, 2018, at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri Campus, Kerala. International delegates, experts, professors, policymak ers,  UN representatives, technocrats and researchers attended the event. The colloquium addressed the latest issues pertaining to women’s empowerment and sustainable development.

Keynote speakers included:

Dr. Deepa Narayan International Poverty, Gender and Develop ment Advisor and renowned author and speaker

Hon. Judge Swati Chauhan founder of Swayam Siddha, an initiative for women

Smt. Shalini Prasad UNICEF

Andy Carmone CNM MPH global health expert and Director of Clinical Science at Clinton Health Access Initiative

And more than 90 women from 21 villages across 18 states of India joined the discussions and celebrated the successful completion of a joint-project by Amrita and the UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF) called “Women’s Empowerment: Community Sanitation Through Democratic Participation.”

The colloquium highlighted issues in six areas: Education, Health care & Sanitation, Safety & Security, Economics & Livelihood, So cial & Cultural Environments & Legal Issues, Disasters & Climate Change. The team from the Centre for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality presented research deliverables of the UNESCO Chair and unveiled the AWESOME Framework (Advancing Wom en’s Empowerment through Systems Oriented Methodology). In her keynote speech, Dr. Deepa Narayan spoke about the importance of women speaking up. “Voice is one of the most powerful things that we have. And yet women are told to speak softly, or not to speak at all. Reclaiming voice is important because without voice one is not really human and there can’t be any empowerment.”

“The colloquium provided a shared platform for experts from in ternational NGOs, GOI officials, high level judges and research scholars from around the world, along with women from the grass roots level, to share their knowledge about key issues in women’s empowerment and vulnerabilities,” said Prof. Bhavani Rao, the Amrita UNESCO Chair holder. “It was inspiring to see so many women from every strata of the society come together in this re markable event and become a unified voice to further women’s empowerment.”

The UNESCO Chair’s activities and research are based on the vision of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham’s chancellor, spiritual leader and humanitarian, Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi who has observed that “Like the two wings of a bird, women and men are of equal value. For without the two in perfect balance, humanity cannot progress”. The knowledge gathered from the research and activi ties of the UNESCO Chair and the UNDEF Project will be used to create a Policy Brief for stakeholders and government agencies.

Celebrating the Achievements of Women Leaders in Villages

Amrita’s UNESCO Chair in Women’s Empowerment & Gender Equality hosted The Capstone event for the Women’s Empower ment: Community Sanitation through Democratic Participation project, under the UN Democracy Fund from December 14-19, 2018, at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri Campus, Kerala. It coincided with Amrita’s UNESCO Chair in Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment International Colloquium.

At the Capstone event for the UNDEF Project, representatives of women’s advocacy self-help groups from project villages present ed their findings on key issues in their communities and took part in a discussion on policy formation. “Before this, many of these women had never ventured outside of their small communities, in teracted with government officials or made efforts to improve the situation in their village,” said Prof. Bhavani. To prepare for these discussions, the participants took part in a “World Cafe’’ style dis cussion where they could share their successes, best practices, and lessons learned. The event was a chance for these women to share with other women from different regions, cultures, and com munities. Select Community Organizers, women from the village who have successfully led the WE: CSDP project, participated in an interactive question and answer session that followed which fa cilitated a conversation between the invited guests and the women change-makers and community organizers. In addition to this, two street plays on major social issues and how to address them were performed by the project participants, to kick start conversations with the invited guests.

The UNDEF project offered intensive training programmes on women’s health, clean water and sanitation topics, community development, financial literacy, self-confidence and more. Partic ipants were supported in conducting community action events, initiating meetings with local government offices and ensuring community-led total sanitation. “With empowerment and edu cation gained from the Amrita-UNDEF project, these women had successfully led discussions and shared their perspectives on how policy could reflect their daily life issues better,’’ said Prof. Bha vani. “Their discussions will form the foundation of an upcoming policy brief, to be submitted through proper channels to the Cen tral Government,” she added.

Together, these women have conducted more than 700 communi ty-action events with nearly 28,000 participants from their villages and surrounding areas. “The most remarkable thing is that these women have initiated close to 400 formal meetings with local and state-level government offices to seek advice and assistance in launching useful schemes. They’ve even submitted RTI requests and filed grievances for improving village infrastructure and se curing their rights,” observed Prof. Bhavani.

The capstone event celebrated the project success and shared their success stories and opinions on key issues at the forum. Hosted by Amrita’s UNESCO Chair in Women’s Empowerment & Gender Equality—the first such chair in India–– this colloquium was also the first of its kind in India that highlighted the successful skill training programs of AMMACHI Labs in the area of women’s em powerment.

Amrita-TAU Workshop Series on Sustainable Development: Education SDG 4

A two-day collaborative inter-university workshop, Amrita-TAU Sustainable Development Workshop on Education (SDG 4), was held at the Amritapuri Campus of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham from December 23-24, 2019. Fourteen noteworthy delegates from Tel Aviv University (TAU), many of whom are heads of university departments, came to share their knowledge and research, and ex change best practices, challenges and solutions on the topics of ‘Science and Technology Education for a Sustainable World’, and ‘Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Education’. More than 45 par ticipants took part in the workshop.

Preeti Arora (Head of Learning Resources and Technology at the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC)) attended as a celebrated guest, presenting a keynote speech. Her talk was on the Role of NSDC in the Skills Ecosystem. Shri. M. Sivasankar, Sec retary to Government, IT Department since June 2016, graced the participants with his presence and shared his wisdom with the au dience. He also holds the charge of Officer on Special Duty to the

Chief Minister of Kerala. Also present were professors, researchers and students from of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, as well as four Amrita Vidyalayam School Principals. Representatives from Nagar coil campus were also present.

The event was hosted by Dr. Bhavani Rao R. (Director of AMMA CHI Labs) and the Centre for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality. In Dr. Bhavani’s address, she addressed that both of the participating universities (Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and Tel Aviv University) have equal synergies. She explained the features of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, lead by Chancellor Amma, in which Compassion is the underlying theme. A round table session on ‘Robotics & AI Education’ was held to wrap up this exceptional workshop. Research collaboration between Amrita Vishwa Vidyap eetham and Tel Aviv university was discussed, action plans were made. Participants from the government side have also agreed to work with the universities to tackle future challenges.

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham with Tel Aviv University, Israel, or ganized week-long workshops at Amritapuri campus on water and education in the context of sustainable development. All of the 80+ workshop participants were trained to deal with complex phenomena and knowledge on methods for sustainable develop ment, knowledge of natural and social conditions, as well as limits towards sustainable development.

Amrita-TAU Workshop Series on Sustainable Development: Water SDG 6

Prof. Tammie Ronen (Head of the Renata Adler Memorial Research Center for Child Welfare and Protection at the Bob Shapell School of Social Work, of Tel Aviv) made the opening remarks. The wel come and orientation included Dr. Balakrishnan Shankar (Dean, Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences) and Dr. Bhavani Rao (Director, AMMACHI Labs) who also joined as Amrita hosts. Prof. Ram Fishman (Assistant Professor of Public Policy at Tel Aviv Uni versity) joined with his welcome remarks. Prof. Hadas Mamane addressed on “A Broad Overview of the Global Water Challenge, Globally, India and Israel”. Prof. Neta Ziv addressed on Water and SDG 6 and on water regime and water rights in India. Prof. Tamar led a review session. Prof. Bhavani Rao addressed on “Cultural Di mensions of Water.”

There were case studies from Amrita’s water projects led by staff. Talks also on Water Technologies by Dr. Hadas Mamane (Tel Aviv), Dr. Sanjay Pal (Amrita School of Biotechnology), Dr. Maneesha Ramesh (Amrita WNA), Water Resource Management by Dr. Hari kumar P. S., Dr. Ram Fishman, Behavioral Change by Dr. Tamar, online talk on Education and Awareness by Ori Shor and a discus sion on ‘The Road Ahead’ and Indo-Israeli collaboration closed the workshop.

Improving the CCI Quality of Care for Children

of Child Rights (KeSCPCR), concluded with the dissemination of the “Compednium on Juvenile Justice Rules for the Stakeholders of Child Protection and Human Trafficking & Trauma Care,” in collab oration with PRERANA-Mumbai and International Justice Mission.

CWEGE Invited Guest Lecture Series

In partnership with UNICEF & the Department of Women and Child Development Kerala, AMMACHI Labs, Amrita’s Center for Wom en’s Empowerment & Gender Equality and Master of Social Work at the Amritapuri campis organized a 3-day event at Amritapuri campus. Dr. Kiaras Gharabaghi, Director, School of Child & Youth Care of Ryerson University, presided over the first two days of the workshop which focused on Improving the CCI Quality of Care for Children and Capacity Building for Child Care and Protection Staff.

Over 80 participants attended, representing child care institutions, child care workers, members of local district Child Welfare Com mittees, students, MSW faculty and staff.

The final day of the workshop inaugurated by Shri. P Suresh, Hon’ble. Chairperson, Kerala State Commission for the Protection

The Center for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality is for tunate to be able to meet with many of the world’s most accom plished practitioners from academia and industry. They come from a diverse variety of fields, and offer CWEGE researchers opportuni ties to learn from them, discuss ideas, and pose questions about their work.

Over 25 weekly virtual presentations were conducted by top re searchers from around the world, including scholars from Har vard, Bar-Ilan University, Cornell University, University of Exeter, Lund University, Tel Aviv, Ludwig Maximilian University and Max Planck Institute, among others.

Weekly Research Colloquia

AMMACHI Labs and the Center for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality has implemented a weekly Research Colloquia series. Dr. Sidney Strauss has spearheaded this initiative by or

ganizing presentations and discussion sessions with some of the top scholars and industry leaders throughout the world for our researchers and PhD scholars. This incredible opportunity affords us the chance to be exposed to new concepts, learn from experts in numerous fields, discuss ideas, and pose questions about their work.

a virtual international symposium to commemorate the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 26th December 2004, to critically reflect on the impact on the global society and track the tsunami preparedness and advances in science and technology enabled early warning systems to build sustainable and resilient communities. The sym posium unveiled challenges faced and lessons learnt from this unprecedented disaster event which not only impacted coastal communities in 14 countries in the Indian Ocean, but provided a watershed opportunity to enact legislations, establish institution al mechanisms for disaster governance at the national, state and district levels and strengthen community resilience, governance, and technological solutions to mitigate any future onset of Tsuna mis. This symposium provided a platform to policy makers, tech nological innovators, oceanography researchers, and industry to come together and share their insights about the progress made in strengthening tsunami preparedness, as well as throw light on some of the most promising technological advancements and strategies that have helped communities across the world.

Defining and Refining - First Steps in Research

Talks

Virtual Symposium on Tsunami Risk Reduction & Community Resilience

The Amrita Center for Wireless Networks & Applications, UNESCO Chair on Experiential Learning for Sustainable Innovation & De velopment, UNESCO Chair in Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality – Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, and ESRI India, global market leader in Geographic Information Systems jointly hosted

The Center for Women’s Empowerment & Gender Equality in col laboration with the Amrita Center for Research and Development (ACRD), organized an international workshop for researchers on “Defining and Refining – Research Methodology Workshop on First Steps in Research” from August 2 – 4, 2019.

Faculty members included Dr. Padma Rao Sahib, University of Groningen, The Netherlands, and Dr. Sandeep Pillai, Università Bocconi, Milan, Italy, led the workshop at the Amritapuri campus of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. This workshop was intended to expose researchers to tools to help define research questions for themselves. The workshop was a combination of lectures, presen tations by students, and feedback sessions.

Inaguration of ATL Aero Club

AMMACHI Labs and Amrita Vidyalayam Schools conducted an in teraction session for school students with Shri Ramanan Ramana than, First Mission Director (AIM) and former Additional Secretary NITI Aayog. This was followed by an inauguration of a joint Aero club for Amrita Vidyalayam Puthiyakavu, Thalassery and Kochi by Dr. Joseph Emmanuel, Academic Director (CBSE India).

National Conference for Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS)

UNESCO Chairholder Dr. Bhavani was invited by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), to present the findings of the pilot project of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham’s “Blended Training System” at the AICTE Auditorium in New Del hi. In the days following, Dr. Bhavani participated in leading a post-conference workshop called “Roadmap for JSS.” During the meetings, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Skill Develop ment and Entrepreneurship in the First Modi Ministry, announced that AMMACHI Labs is a knowledge partner for the country.

Mainstreaming Sustainability for Smart Development: Challenges and Way Forward

Dr. Bhavani Rao, Director, AMMACHI Labs was a panelist for the discussion on “Mainstreaming Sustainability for Smart Develop ment: Challenges and Way Forward” organized by UNESCO New Delhi in June, 2021. The event followed the launch of the forthcom ing UNESCO Science Report 2021: the Race Against Time for Smart er Development. The UNESCO ScienceReport is a global monitor ing report published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Civilization Resilience post COVID -19

Dr. Bhavani Rao’s talk from: Civilization Resilience Post COVID-19, a Virtual Think Tank was hosted by Farouk El-Baz Center for Sus tainability and Future Studies (FECSFS) at the British University in Egypt (BUE) and Civilizology LLC, USA. It originally aired on Face book Live on April 28, 2020, and was recorded.

Open Science Webinar

Dr. Bhavani Rao was a panelist at the ‘Open Science Beyond Open Access’ webinar organized by the Unesco Chair in CBR & Social Responsibility in Higher Education in collaboration with the Canadian Commission for UNESCO / Commission canadienne pour l’UNESCO.

Dr. Bhavani Rao’s talk on the topic: “Achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals through the Principles of Motherhood” was conducted by the Indology Foundation on October 23rd, 2020.

Voices Unheard: Breaking the Silence

Women Leadership: Transforming the Indian Diaspora

Dr. Bhavani Rao R inaugurated the three day International Webi nar, “Voices Unheard: Breaking the Silence” on September 3rd,  2020, organized by theCenter for Women’s Studies and Women Empowerment Cell, Hyderabad, India. The aim of the three-day webinar was to create a platform to share the life journeys of the global personalities, icons, warriors, superstars, and luminaries, who have braved themselves against the odds, challenges, dis crimination, and bigotry strewn across their paths towards achiev ing their goals.

Awards and Recognition

World Innovation Congress: Excellence in Innovation

Dr. Bhavani Rao R. was recognized as an innovation leader at the “World Innovation Congress: Annual Excellence in Innovation Awards” at the Taj Lands End in Mumbai on February 12, 2019. The award category was “50 Education Innovative Leaders” and the theme of the event was “Innovation for a Sustainable Future.”

Women Economic Forum: Exceptional Women of Excellence

Prof. Bhavani Rao, Director of AMMACHI Labs and UNESCO Chair in Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment, received the WEF 19 Award of “Exceptional Women of Excellence,” at the 25th edition of the Women Economic Forum – WEF. WEF 19 took place at the Vivanta by Taj, New Delhi, April 11- 16, 2019. The overall theme was Reimagining Societies: Reclaiming Humanity with Gender Equal ity. Prof. Bhavani was also a panelist on the Special Plenary: The Dimensions of Innovation in The Dynamism of Today’s Landscape. Her talk covered the work of AMMACHI Labs and the Center for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality.

Publications and Reports

Transforming MENtalities and Promoting Gender Equality in India

UNESCO, New Delhi commissioned the CWEGE to leverage its ex pertise in the area of gender equality research and practice in India to produce the report entitled, Transforming MENtalities and Pro moting Gender Equality in India. The UNESCO report is the fruition of a year-long effort by the CWEGE research team led by Director Dr. Bhavani, along with Senior Researchers Christopher Coley, and Kripa Gressel. It draws from more than a decade of experi ence working in the gender equality field across India. Inspired by AMMACHI Labs’ and CWEGE’s research in vulnerability map ping, women’s empowerment, and community mobilization, the report offers a roadmap to stakeholders on how best to identify and then transform the expressions of masculinity that impede gender equality and women’s empowerment. It reflects both the UNESCO and Amrita mission to promote SDG 5 through holistic, compas sionate, and collaborative means in order to help India overcome its challenges.

This one-of-a-kind report explains, through multiple means and across different spheres, the need to engage and empower men and boys to critically evaluate national, regional and local norms of multiple masculinities and challenge negative gender stereo types and behaviours. The report also outlines how such a posi tive transformation will help stakeholders from the civil society, government, academia, and others, in addressing myths and misconceptions surrounding the different notions of masculinity, and paving the way for societies to achieve peace and sustain able development, with gender equality as a core principle. The report provides a range of information from historical roots of so cial norms, the effect of the unique policy trajectory from India’s independence to today, and a mapping and evaluation of stake holder efforts on this topic. This analysis and the resulting recom mendations focused on India are expected to provide a valuable and important reference on this issue for the region and globally.

Vulnerability Mapping: A conceptual frame work towards a context-based approach to women’s empowerment

We propose in this paper that barriers to women's empowerment (WE) persist either because the theoretical frameworks and means of tackling such barriers are sometimes unsuited to the context in which they are applied, or because critical factors are missing in the conception, design, measurement, or best practices of WE in terventions. We explore this proposition through a review of WE history, theory, and methodology of implementation. Our goal in reexamining WE in practice is to identify key areas within the field that can be improved through the introduction of several concep tual and theoretical constructs from the literature of vulnerability mapping (VM) and assessment as articulated through the climate change and disaster reduction and response fields.

Other Publications

James Jose, R Unnikrishnan, Delmar Marshall, Rao R. Bhavani. Haptic Simulations for Training Plumbing Skills. Haptic Audio and Visual Environments and Games (HAVE), 2014 IEEE International Symposium on, pp. 65-70. 2014.

Akhil, K. P., Manikutty, G., & Ravindran, R. (2019, July). Autonomous Navigation of an Unmanned Ground Vehicle for Soil Pollution Monitoring. In 2019 2nd International Conference on Intelligent Computing, Instrumentation and Control Technologies (ICICICT) (Vol. 1, pp. 1563-1567). IEEE.

Alkoyak-Yildiz, M., Babu, S. K., Anitha, P., & Mukil, M. V. (2019, December). “ Was It Real?”-The Effects of Virtual Reality Communication Skills Training Among University Students in India. In 2019 IEEE Tenth International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E) (pp. 278-279). IEEE.

Babu, S. K., Anitha, P., Unnikrishnan, R., Rahul, E. S., Sasi, D. D., Ayyappan, K., & Seshadri, R. (2019, December). Igniting the Maker Spirit: Design and Pilot Deployment of the Kappa Tangible Electronics Prototyping Kit In 2019 IEEE Tenth International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E) (pp. 23-26). IEEE.

Bonin, S. and Mohan, A. (2020). Barefoot Lawyers: A Preliminary Model For Women’s Empowerment Towards Gender And Democratic Justice. The 3rd International Conference of Future Women 2020-The Next Generation of Women: Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities, and Equal Participation”, 13th, 14th February 2020.

Christopher Coley, Srividya Sheshadri, Sriram Devanathan, & Rao R. Bhavani. Contextualizing Women’s Empowerment Frameworks with an Emphasis on Social Support: A Study in Rural, South India. (2021).

DS, D. Mohan, H., R.R. Bhavani. (2019). Evaluation Of Springback In Manual Rebar Bending Process 5th International Conference for Convergence in Technology, Pune (MS), India, 29th -31st March 2019.

Jayan, V., Ajan, A., Mohan, H. T., Manikutty, G., Sasi, D., Kappanayil, M., & Rao, R. B. (2020, December). Design and development of a low-cost powered air-purifying respirator for frontline medical workers for COVID-19 response. In 2020 IEEE 8th R10 Humanitarian Technology Conference (R10-HTC) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.

Kongeseri, S., & Coley, C. (2019, November). Design of a Collaborative Tabletop Game for Civic Engagement: Serious Games in Rural India. In International Conference on Videogame Sciences and Arts (pp. 86-98). Springer, Cham.

Kumar, R. P., & Aswathi, P. (2019, July). Extraction of causality and related events using text analysis. In 2019 2nd International Conference on Intelligent Computing, Instrumentation and Control Technologies (ICICICT) (Vol. 1, pp. 1448-1453). IEEE.

Manikutty, G. (2021). My Robot Can Tell Stories: Introducing Robotics And Physical Computing To Children Using Dynamic Dioramas. Frontiers in Education 2021, Envisioning Convergence in Engineering Education (FIE 2021).

Manikutty, G., Frey, L. M., Natarajan, A., Chilakapati, U., & Vennila, V. (2019, December). I Can Also Make Robots! Inspiring Rural Indian Children to Learn Robotics. In 2019 IEEE Tenth International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E) (pp. 78-85). IEEE.

Mohan, K. & Bonin, Y. S. (2021). Exploring vulnerabilities of disas ter-induced widows Journal of ASIAN Behavioural Studies, 6(18), 35-45. https://doi.org/10.21834/jabs.v6i18.

Padmavilochanan, A., Menon, B. M., & Shekar, L. (2019, December). Text Mining of Activity Reports to Track and Monitor Rural Youth Training Programs. In 2019 IEEE Tenth International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E) (pp. 262-263). IEEE.

Rasana, N., Jayanarayanan, K., Mohan, H. T., & Keller, T. (2021). Static and dynamic mechanical properties of nanosilica and multiwalled carbon nanotube reinforced acrylonitrile butadiene styrene composites: theoretical mechanism of nanofiller reinforcement. Iranian Polymer Journal, 1-15.

Sheshadri, S., Coley, C., Devanathan, S., & Rao, R. B. (2020). Towards synergistic women’s empowerment-transformative learning framework for TVET in rural India. Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2020.1834438.

Vazhayil, A., Shetty, R., Bhavani, R. R., & Akshay, N. (2019, December). Focusing on teacher education to introduce AI in schools: Perspectives and illustrative findings. In 2019 IEEE Tenth International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E) (pp. 71-77). IEEE.

Academic Programs

5 Year Integrated Bachelors and Masters in Social Work (BSW/MSW)

A new Five Year Integrated B/MSW Degree in Social Work is being offered (from August 2021) at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amri tapuri Campus. The Integrated BSW and MSW program provides a rich pathway in the field of Social Work. Students can opt to grad uate after three years with a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work, or continue for five years to graduate with a Master’s Degree in Social Work from a top-ranked university.

Duration: 5 years (exit option after 3 years for BSW)

Integrated BSW/MSW Specializations

• Environmental Sciences and Disaster Management

• Sustainable Public Health

• Social Innovation for Sustainability

• Child Rights and Child Protection

MSW Specializations

• Global Health and Development

• Gender-based Violence

• Child Rights and Child Protection

• Physical & Mental Health

• Environmental Health

• Community Development

Rekha Eipe Memorial Scholarship Award

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham has received $40,000 US to establish the Rekha Eipe Memorial Scholarship Award for Women’s Empow erment and Education. The objective is to create an endowment fund and provide financial aid to talented women students at the university’s Masters in Social Work Program and develop future leaders who will shape a more equitable society. The scholarship is expected to benefit thousands of students across India for years to come.

Rekha Eipe dedicated her life to improving the cause of literacy and education with a special focus on children and young people working with UNICEF, CRY, Embracing the World and more.

“We appreciate the support of the Eipe Family and are so proud of Rekha Eipe, a dedicated champion of women’s empowerment,” said Dr. Rao. “This generous gift will help continue to produce graduates that are valued for their leadership and innovation.”

The social work program includes instructions on how to find solu tions to societal problems that lead to inclusive development of underserved communities. Currently, CWEGE coordinates the postgraduate program under the faculty of social sciences and humanities.

PhD & Fellowship in Cognitive Sciences & Technology

Amrita’s PhD program in Cognitive Sciences and Technology is a brand new, multidisciplinary and theory-into-practice program. The Fellowship in Cognitive Sciences & Technology utilizes a prob lem-driven approach to research, by designing, developing and implementing technologies for the purpose of improving teach ing and learning outcomes of skills development (both physical and cognitive skills).

Our Chancellor’s exemplary vision and unwavering endeavor to care for and address the needs of underserved people, drives the program’s comprehensive yet flexible curriculum. We believe that excellence in science finds its highest expression of virtue by serv ing others, especially underserved populations. We enroll and ca ter to candidates from various disciplines and work towards skill development.

Program Highlights

• Engagement with industry

• Projects funded by the UN, Government of India, etc.

• Join world class research centers and work with distin guished international scientists and professors

Research Disciplines

• Interdisciplinary studies in Cognitive Sciences

• Interdisciplinary studies in Engineering and Robotics

Research Topics

The offered research context of Skill development is interdisciplin ary and includes three components:

• Skill capture and analytics

• Skill transfer capture and analysis

• Skill transfer technologies

Our research and development projects will be done by interdis ciplinary teams of students and expert researchers using method ologies from neuroscience, artificial intelligence, technology envi ronments (e.g., virtual reality and augmented reality), computer science, cognitive psychology and education.

Collaborations & Partnerships

UNIVERSITY COLLABORATIONS

UC San Diego, USA

University of Pennsylvania, USA UCLA, USA

EPFL, Switzerland

State University of New York, Buffalo, USA University at Buffalo, USA

Clemson University, USA

UC Davis, USA

Tel Aviv University, Israel University of Groningen, Netherlands University of Glasgow, Scotland

INDUSTRIAL PARTNERS

NORRAG Omnex Larsen and Tubro Shapoorji Pallonji

KNOWLEDGE PARTNERS

Civilizology LLC

Telecom Sector Skill Council, Ministry of Labour and Employ ment,India

Gem and Jewelry Skill Council of India Board of Practical Training Dayalbagh Educational Institute

Capital Goods Skill Council Common Services Centers Scheme Department of Electronics and Information Technology National Instructional Media Institute(NIMI)

Education and Technology Services

Sri Ramakrishna Advanced Training Institute (SRATI)

Parinam Foundation

Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA)

Prerana ATC

International Justice Mission INS (Infusion Nurses Society)

Sulabh International

SQUAT Survey

Livelihood Alternatives, Odisha

Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS)

UN AGENCIES

UNICEF UNESCO UNDEF UN Women UNDP

UNESCO CHAIRS

UNESCO Chair on Landscape, Cultural Heritage and Territorial Governance & President

UNESCO Chair on Technology, Internationalization and Educa tion

UNESCO Chair in Experiential Learning

GOVERNMENT

Govt. Of Chattisgarh APSSDC

Ministry of Human Resource Development Chhattisgarh Shasan, Government of Chattisgarh NMEICT-MHRD NSDC eSkill India

Israel Consulate to South India Department of Science and Technology