Hyderabad : Education for girls and women and recognition of the importance of women’s empowerment for sustainable development will dominate the debate at the Global Summit of UNESCO Gender-related Chairs and Networks (W36). This is the theme is: ‘COVID-19 impacts and transforms the role of women in the post-pandemic era’. 

The overall objective of this global summit is to bring together all gender-related UNESCO Chairs and networks worldwide to share their visions, unite voices and spark momentum for addressing challenges and co-build a brighter future for all women across the globe today. 

A more specific objective is to launch the first series of the annual summit, and to illuminate the powerful global role that women and girls play to accelerate the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals in many countries and contexts worldwide. 

A key speaker at the conference this year is Dr Bhavani Rao R, Head for the UNESCO Chair on Gender Equality and Director of AMMACHI Labs. She is also the Director of the Center for Women Empowerment and Gender Equality (CWEGE), at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kerala, India. A central focus on her work has been the use of skill-development as the baseline strategy and women’s empowerment as the underlying vision. 

The W36, a two-day event, will be hosted virtually from India. The aim is to discuss the challenges currently faced by women and girls all across the world because of the COVID-19 pandemic and how to address them. The summit is open to anybody interested in these topics; not just UNESCO Chairs, but also academics, researchers, students and any organization or stakeholder. 

Day 1 will see a welcome note by Dr Bhavani Rao R and address by key guest speakers. It will give an opportunity to all Gender-Related UNESCO Chairs to present their Chair, mission and activities, to the other Chairs and wider public as an open event. 

Day 2 will focus on specific themes during smaller group sessions by the Chairs on Science & Technology; Education & Skill Development; Society, Culture & Legal Rights; Health & Nutrition, Safety & Security, Environment & Sustainability; Finance & Economics; Communication & Leadership. Academics, researchers, students, or anybody having worked or conducted a research or project in one of these areas is welcome to participate. Please register to send us your suggestions. 

The other keynote speakers are: Ms. Jamila Seftaoui, Director, Division for Gender Equality, Cabinet of the Director-General, UNESCO, Paris, Mr. Peter J. Wells, Chief, Higher Education, UNESCO, Paris, Mr. Eric Falt, Director and UNESCO Representative to Bhutan, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka, Dr. Gloria Bonder, Coordinator of the Global Network of UNESCO Chairs on Gender, Director of the Gender, Society and Policies Department, FLACSO Argentina, Coordinator of the UNESCO Regional Chair on Women, Science and Technology in Latin America and Dr. Maneesha V. Ramesh, PGP Chair for Interdisciplinary Studies, Dean, International Programs, UNESCO Chair on Experiential Learning for Sustainable Innovation & Development, Director & Professor, Amrita Center for Wireless Networks & Applications, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. 

The event is being organized by AMMACHI Labs, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.