On International Women’s Day (March 8th, 2021) Dr. Bhavani Rao and the team from the UNESCO Chair in Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment hosted a virtual event to celebrate the occasion and launch new women’s initiatives on this special occasion. 
The event was opened and moderated by Dr Meltem Alkoyak who began with a hearty introduction about Dr Bhavani Rao, UNESCO chair on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. Dr Bhavani then introduction welcomed all and hoped for a future in 2030 where a day would not be needed to celebrate women and they would be celebrated everyday with the agenda and vision of gender equality already achieved.

The honorable guest speakers included:

• Charu Sinha, IPS Inspector General, CRPF, Srinagar Sector
• Jeff Robinov, CEO, Studio 8
• Nidhi Zakaria Eipe, Chairperson, Rekha Eipe Memorial Foundation
• Kelly Cutrone, CEO & Founder, People’s Revoltion
• Jani Guest, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Independent Films

Other guests from Amrita included VM Nandakumaran and Dr Sriram Devanathan.

The opening speech by Madam Charu Sinha, IPS was an inspiring and heartfelt talk. Described by Dr Bhavani as “a military officer and an officer with a heart,” Madam Sinha shared in parts about her humble beginnings in her 25 years of strong service. She’s the first woman to proudly hold the position. She described many experiments and initiatives in collaboration with AMMACHI Labs that were planned for next two years now aim at targeting approximately 25,000 CRPF servicemen in Kashmir. They will be trained by master trainers with an objective to bring resilience in them and help them become more open and welcoming towards gender equality. Madam Sinha appreciated the work being done by the team at Amrita under the supervision of Dr Bhavani and conveyed these sentiments with excitement and enthusiasm.

The session ended with a final screening of a short video that showed SHG women taking pledge in their regional languages: “We the SHG members of [name of place] choose to challenge inequality, call out bias, question stereotypes, and help forge an inclusive world.”

Overall, the International Women’s Day event was an inspiring event that celebrated this important occaision.

Projects & Program Announcements

• Rekha Eipe Memorial Scholarship Award for Women’s Empowerment and Education
  • Endowment fund of 30 Lakh INR providing financial aid to female students in the Masters of Social Work Program at Amrita.
• Gender Etiquette: Film Competition on Gender Sensitivities in Academia
  • Our first annual short film competition for university students will promote awareness on gender-sensitive behaviours and etiquette.
• SMART SHGs
  • SMART SHGs use communication technologies as a platform to create a viable business-model rooted in the socio-economic empowerment of women’s SHGs in Northern India.
• Women in Sustaining the Environment (WISE)
  • WISE promotes women’s empowerment and sustainable water governance by supporting women’s participation in the choice, maintenance, and management of water resources along with other sustainable development practices.
• Greening the Mobile Technology Lifecycle
  • This project will train women in mobile phone/tablet repair skills, incubate women’s businesses, and implement a women led E-waste strategy to repair & recycle technology

First beneficiary of the scholarship page

Catch the replay of the event on the AMMACHI Labs YouTube Channel: