Amrita’s UNESCO Chair on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment strives to promote international, inter-university cooperation and networking to enhance institutional capacities and collaborative work.
UNESCO CHAIR ON GENDER EQUALITY AND WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT “This is certainly the first-ever UNESCO chair in this discipline. My thanks to Amrita for the inspired idea and for the beautiful project. I am confident that through this chair, which is Amma’s and UNESCO’s gift, Amrita will make sure that both the ceiling and the floor for women will be raised.”
-Ruchira Kamboj
Former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to UNESCO
Established in 2016, the UNESCO Chair furthers the goals of the Center for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality and promotes international, inter-university cooperation and networking to enhance institutional capacities and collaborative work.
KEY ACTIVITIES UNDER THE CHAIR UNESCO CHAIRHOLDER
Graduate and postgraduate
“If you believe in the innate potential
educational programs
of a woman— to be creative, to be nurturing— then putting technology in
International partnerships and
her hands will only amplify whatever
collaboration programs
she has to offer and will greatly contribute to the benefit of society.” Dr. Bhavani Rao
Dean, Amrita School of Social and Behavioural Sciences UNESCO Chair on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (India) Director, Center for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality Director, AMMACHI Labs
Basic and applied research related to women’s empowerment Community engagement and intervention design and implementation Monitoring and evaluation /Impact assessment
CENTER FOR WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT AND GENDER EQUALITY Thematic research center under the UNESCO Chair. The activities of the Center are distributed across three core areas: KNOWLEDGE CREATION
Center for Women’s & Gender Equality
KNOWLEDGE Empowerment DISSEMINATION
IMPLEMENTATION & SOCIAL IMPACT
MISSION The Center for Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality seeks to increase women’s empowerment as an equitable approach towards achieving gender equality through participatory Action Research, Implementation and Knowledge dissemination.
KNOWLEDGE CREATION Advancing Women’s Empowerment through Systems Model Expansion (AWESOME 2050) The AWESOME Framework is a uniquely modeled framework that evolved out of years of field experience and extensive research into the empowerment process. AWESOME Research Ecosystem
AWESOME Research Roadmap
AWESOME Areas of Research
Women's Empowerment Body of
Program design implementation &
Knowledge
evaluation
Certification Standards and Indicators
Computational Social Sciences
Cloud-Based Technology Solution
GIS Applications in Social &
Community Resource Centers Tools for Community Certification
Community Development Gender and Empowerment Studies Sustainable Development Studies
ACADEMICS AT A GLANCE Undergraduate 5 Year Integrated BSW & MSW
Amrita offers integrated academic programs preparing our students to become tomorrow’s changemakers.
Graduate Master of Social Work (MSW)
Doctoral Program Highlights:
Doctoral Ph. D. in Cognitive Sciences & Technology
Post Doctoral research avenues Multidimensional research Innovative research solutions International project collaborations
TRANSFORMING OUR WORLD: THE 2030 AGENDA
M
COMMUNITY, PERSONAL SAFETY AND SECURITY
HEALTH AND SANITATION
3
2
GOOD HEALTH AND WELL BEING
16
ZERO HUNGER
PEACE, JUSTICE AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS
1
6
NO POVERTY
ECONOMIC STABILITY AND LIVELIHOODS
CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION
DECENT WORK AND 8 ECONOMIC GROWTH
12
RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION
5 EDUCATION AND SKILL DEVELOPMENT
4
GENDER EQUALITY
7
AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY
QUALITY EDUCATION
10
15
REDUCED INEQUALITIES
13
LIFE ON LAND
CLIMATE ACTION
CLIMATE CHANGE AND DISASTER
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT
The establishment of the Amrita University UNESCO Chair will support India’s progress towards achieving the UN’s 2030 Agenda for
Our projects align with the United Nations Sustainable Development goals holding SDG 5 at the core of our research and field deployments. Chancellor Amma & former President Sri Ram Nath Kovind present women sanitation “Champions” from rural villages with ODF certificates, 2017
CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT & RESEARCH SMART Self-Help-Groups Socio-economic empowerment
WADI - Sustainable Development projects for tribal belts in Odisha
WISE 2.0 - Women in Sustaining the Environment in India and Tanzania
Supported by: Amrita Vishwa
Supported by: National Bank for
Supported by: Israel Consulate, CSR &
Vidyapeetham & CSR
Agriculture and Rural Development &
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
Amrita Gender Conversation Workshop Series for CRPF
SANKALP - Skill Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion
Supported by: Amrita Vishwa
Supported by: Ministry of Skill
Vidyapeetham & CSR
Development & Entrepreneurship, NSDC, in collaboration with World Bank (Multi-Location)
101 Villages & Amrita SREE Scaling women’s empowerment initiatives accross India
Supported by: MA Math Courses: Basic Sewing Operator, MS Office, Fabric Painting, Artificial Jewelry Making, Soap Making
MONITORING AND EVALUATION Mobile Apps for Implementation Sciences & Impact Assessment Researchers at the Center for Women’s Empowerment & Gender Equality are developing mobile-based apps for remote monitoring and tracking of field projects. Built on the open source Flutter framework, these apps have GIS and low bandwidth capabilities. • Field Operations Tracker • Water Monitoring App – WISE Project in collaboration with TAU • Implementation Sciences App • Seasonal Calendar App
Researchers from Amrita and Tel Aviv University in Tanzania to equip rural women with technologies to monitor and maintain local drinking water supplies: WISE Project 2021.
KNOWLEDGE DISSEMINATION Under the UNESCO Chair, the Center participates in knowledge dissemination various levels - having conducted several conferences and workshops, and contributed widely to the women’s empowerment body of knowledge. Commission on the Status of Women - UN Women
Chairholder Dr. Bhavani Rao with members of the UNDEF special event for the CSW62: Empowerment Through Democracy, Civil Society and Innovation.
Global Summit for Gender-Related UNESCO Chairs (W36)
The Global Summit for Gender-Related Chairs and Networks (W36) brought together UNESCO Chairs from around the world, August 19-20, 2021.
AWESOME Conference International Conference
International Colloquium Women’s Empowerment through Community Sanitation and Democratic Participation
International Conference on Advancing Women’s
International delegates along with women “Champions of
Empowerment through Systems Model Expansion
Change” convened at Amrita for three day international
(AWESOME), March 3-5, 2022.
women’s conference, December 18-20, 2018.
A Braided River: The Universe of Indian Women in Science; a UNESCO publication
Transforming MENtalities: gender equality and masculinities in India, a UNESCO publication
Supported by: UNESCO &
Supported by UNESCO &
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
OUR VISION
“Like the two wings of a bird, women and men are of equal value. For without the two in perfect balance, humanity cannot progress.” Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi Chancellor, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham Amma addressing the United Nations Geneva 2002
UNESCO CHAIR & CENTER AT A GLANCE 16 PhD
Scholars E4 Life
3 Academic Programs
50+
4
1300+
6000+
200,00+ Women
Publications
Bachelor, Master, PhD
60+
Seminars, Workshops, Conferences
Awards
64
Community-led Advocacy Events
members of AmritaSREE Self-Help-Group Network
Students trained
Village Partnerships in 21 Indian states
AMRITA UNIVERSITY RANKED 8TH IN WORLD GENDER EQUALITY
2021
UNESCO Chair on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham Amritapuri, Clappana P. O. Kollam - 690 525, Kerala, India unesco.chair@ammachilabs.org amrita.edu/cwege