Embracing the World
  • About us
    • Who we are
    • About Amma
    • ETW The Movie
    • Our eBook
    • In the Media
  • How you can help
    • About our Volunteers
    • AYUDH Youth Volunteers
    • Get Involved
  • Real life stories
  • English
    • Danish
    • French
    • German
    • Italian
    • Spanish
    • Swedish
  • Basic Needs
    • Food
    • Shelter
    • Healthcare
    • Education
    • Livelihood
  • Emergencies
  • Environment
  • Research
  • News

Amrita University gets India’s first-ever UNESCO Chair on Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment

October 2016, France

On October 30, the United Nations officially established India’s first-ever UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Chair on Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment at our own Amrita University. Amrita University’s Chancellor, Sri Mata Amritanandamayi (or “Amma”), officially approved the UNESCO Chair during her annual program in Paris, before an audience of 8,000.

Guests at the event included Ruchira Kamboj (India’s Ambassador and permanent representative to UNESCO), Dr. Peter Wells (UNESCO Chief of Higher Education Section), and Gopinathan Achamkulangare (Inspector of the Joint Inspection Unit). Amrita University’s Vice-Chancellor, Dr. P Venkat Rangan, handed the signed agreement to Dr. Wells on behalf of the university.

“There is no greater force for development, resilience and peace in the world than girls’ education.” Dr. Wells declared. “Universities such as Amrita have a guiding and strategic role to play in this quest. This UNESCO chair will be at the crossroads of research and action, with the ambition to develop toolkits focusing on vital areas, from skills to health to climate change, on mobile technology applications, and better mapping of vulnerabilities. This is a fundamental bridge gap between research, policy and practice. Amrita University and UNESCO share the same humanist agenda, and we look forward to a collaboration which advances the most important frontier for human rights, peace and progress.”

Vice Chancellor Rangan added, “It is a first for India that a chair devoted to Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment is being established. Even in the most advanced countries, there are very few such dedicated initiatives. This reflects the high priority that Amma has given to this critical area in her social and humanitarian works. In the coming four years, we will identify vulnerabilities of women and girls in India and ways of addressing them - a gigantic task, unprecedented in its scope. The focus will be vulnerability mapping as a result of security, education, and skill-development, social and cultural environment, climate change, disaster risks, and health and sanitation.”

Under the new UNESCO chair, Amrita University will assess the vulnerabilities of women and girls in multiple areas of life. Through research, training and an exchange of best practices, the university will pursue replicable problem-solving techniques that can be adopted worldwide.

Launched in 1992, the UNESCO Chairs Program comprises a global network of more than 700 universities, across 128 countries. It promotes international inter-university cooperation and networking to enhance institutional capacities through knowledge-sharing and collaborative work. Through this global network, higher education and research institutions across the globe pool their human and material resources to address pressing challenges and contribute to the development of their own communities.

Posted on: December 17, 2016
  • second-column:
Top


Embracing the World is a global network of
charitable projects conceived by the Mata Amritanandamayi Math
(an NGO with Special Consultative Status to the United Nations)

Social Media
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
Related Sites
  • Amma.org
  • Amrita University
  • Amrita Hospitals
  • Amrita Self-Reliant Villages
  • Amrita SREE SHGs
  • AmritaCREATE
  • Live-in-Labs
  • GreenFriends
  • AYUDH India
  • AYUDH Europe
  • AYUDH Americas
Stay in Touch
  • Local ETW groups
  • ETW in the Media
Downloads
  • ETW Humanitarian Overview (2020)
  • ETW eBook (2019)
  • Amma: Bio (2020)
  • Amma: Factsheet (2019)
  • Pray & Serve: Amma and the Tsunami (2007)
  • 40 Years of Amrita Yoga (2022)
  • AYUDH: Generation of Peace (2019)

Humanitarian Projects

Food
  • 10 Million Meals Every Year, India
  • Nairobi, Kenya
  • San Jose, Costa Rica
  • Cancun, Mexico
  • North America
  • Kenya
  • Sydney and Melbourne, Australia
  • Southern France
  • Granollers, Spain
Shelter
  • 100,000 Homes for the Homeless, India
  • Orphanage for 500 Children, India
  • Relocating Slumdwellers, India
  • Amrita Watoto Boma Children's Home
Healthcare
  • Amrita Hospital
  • Medical Camps
  • Satellite Hospitals
  • HIV/AIDS Health Clinic
  • Public Health
  • Telemedicine
  • Cataract Surgeries in Kenya
Education
  • 100,000 Scholarships for Children
  • Award-winning Adult Education
  • After School programs
  • School for Hearing Impaired
  • School for Differently-Abled
  • Amrita University
Livelihood
  • Empowering Women
  • Lifetime Financial Aid
  • Traditional Arts School
  • Industrial Training Center
  • Vocational Training Center
Environment
  • Planting Trees
  • Home and Community Gardens
  • Reducing, Reusing, Recycling
  • Clean India Campaign
  • Environmental Education
  • Sustainable Communities
Emergencies
  • COVID-19, 2020
  • Floods in Kerala, 2018
  • Cylcone in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, 2017
  • Earthquake in Nepal, 2015
  • Floods in Tamil Nadu, 2015
  • Floods in Jammu & Kashmir, 2014
  • Landslides in North and South India, 2013
  • Typhoon in The Philippines, 2013
  • Fire Disasters in South India, 2012
  • Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, 2011
  • Haiti Earthquake, 2010
  • Karnataka & Andhra Pradesh Floods, 2009
  • Cyclone Aila, 2009
  • Bihar Floods, 2008
  • Hurricane Katrina, 2005
  • Mumbai Floods, 2005
  • Indian Ocean Tsunami, 2004
  • Gujarat Earthquake, 2001
Research
  • Wireless Technology for Landslide Detection
  • Groundbreaking Nanotechnology
  • Human-Computer Interaction for Everyone
  • Fighting an Epidemic with Biotechnology
  • Virtual Laboratories
  • Wearable Technology for Health and Safety
  • Tablet-based Learning for Rural Children
  • Open and Distance Learning
Made with love by volunteers in canada, france, germany, india and the united states.

Embracing the World © 2023 Embracing the World / Terms of Use / Privacy Policy