Avtar Human Capital Trust organises In dia’s First Male Allyship Synergy Su mmit (MASS) for Students and Corpor ates.
· Inclusive leadership, equity, and cultural in telligence take centre stage
· Launch of Allyship Clubs in Chennai / T N Government schools to usher in a gender-neutral society through project MITR (Men Impacting Trust & Respects)
Chennai, 15th March 2025:
Avtar Human Capital Trust, the non-profit wing of Avtar, India’s leading workplace cu lture consulting firm, organized ‘Male Ally ship Synergy Summit’ (MASS) 20 25, a firs st-of-its-kind platform for corpo rate profe essionals and students to come together to champion male allyship. An extension of MI TR (Men Impacting Trust & Respect), a key initiative under Avtar Human Capital Trust that focuses on ge nder sensitization amon ng adolescent bo ys from across Tamil Nad u’s government schools, MASS, is a contes st-driven move ment that challenges boys to step-up, sp eak-up and show-up as true allies for gender inclusion. This event is to be held annually during the month of Inter nation al Women’s Day.
The inaugural summit held at Tidel Park wit nessed about 200 schoolboys from four go vernment schools, over 100 college studen s from Chennai and represent ntatives from more than six corporate organizations, taki ng a collective pledge to reinforce their co mmitment to foster ring gender equality.
Whilst, the highlig ght of the summit was th e launch of ‘Allyship Clubs’ at the schools th at are a part of project MITR, there are also other key programs: a panel discussion on ‘Be yond Good Intentions: Turning Allyship into Everyday Actions’, ‘Heart to Art’ – a post er-making contest, Video bytes on the best practices and power of Allyship at workpla ce and other competitions ce ntred around Male Allyship.
The Chief Guest Mr Anand Mohanram, Ma naging Director of Mr. Cooper Group lit the lamp and congratulated Team Avtar for this thoughtful initiative that encourages men to be active allies in changing workplace cultu res and championi ng women’s empowerm ent by creating equitable spaces both at wo rk and in the society.
Speaking at the event, Dr Saundarya Rajes h, Founder-President of the Avtar Group an d the Managing Trustee of Avtar Human Ca pital Trust, said, “MASS marks the beginni ng of structured engagement between corp orates and students through Allyship Clubs in schools. These clubs endeavour to bring boys and girls together to actively practice allyship. Male ally ship is a catalyst in drivi ng progress tow ards SDG 5 and achieving gender equali ty. And what’s important is th at we begi n teaching boys to advocate for girls at the earliest stage, an effort MITR, which operates in 30 schools across Tamil Nadu, is involved in.
Let’s keep in mind: For a Viksit Bharat to be come a reality, both me n and women must thrive. And this begins with our boys fierce ly supporting our girls – an inspiring sight we witnessed today.”
Mr. Eswar Balasubramanian, Senior Vice Pr esident, Avtar Human Capital Trust sp oke about the critical role men play in advancin g gender equality and how they can promot e inclusive leadership, advoc ate for opport unities and be an ally in action.
The events:
The ‘Heart to Art’ poster-making contes st encouraged participants to visualize a wor ld, where all boys promote equality. A corpo rate video byte contest high lighted the best practices in fostering male allyship within w orkplaces. A college-level roleplay focused on breaking gender stereotypes together.
A panel discussio on the topic ‘Beyond Goo d Intentions:
Turning Allyship into Everyday Actions’, mo derated by Ms. Sanjula Bai, Group Manager at IBM, the panellists included, Mr. Rathinav avel Rajan, Head of HR at Balls Engineering, Mr. Saravanan, Director – People Communi cations and CSR, Kone India, and Dr. Shant hi, Principal of Asan Memorial Arts & Scien ce College.