A voice for women in need
In 2017, The Asia Foundation in partnership with Women in Need (WIN), designed and launched ‘2six4’, Sri Lanka’s first android mobile app to combat issues of Gender Based Violence.
“The purpose of this initiative is twofold” Attorney-at-law Mariam Wadood, Project Coordinator of WIN, tells the Mirror Magazine.
She explains that the app comes as a source of information since it provides access to legal information and also an emergency response function which enables a victim to send an SOS text message to five pre-selected contacts.
A victim can seek for assistance by pressing the SOS button on the app following which the recipients are notified of the victim’s location and the need to render assistance.
The app also facilitates a victim to alert the nearest police station or hospital within 10 kilometres of her location.
Ms. Wadood says that the app guides a user to report any kind of abuse including cyber harassment which has been on the rise during the recent past.
“The rising number of cases on cyber harassment across the country was the main reason behind the inclusion of this option in the app,” she adds.
In the event of being faced with such abuse, a victim will be able to notify WIN which will then provide the relevant advice to the victim.
Cases of street harassment can also be reported via the app.
“Street harassment is a challenge to address as the perpetrators can easily disappear without a trace,” Ms. Wadood explains.
A user of the app will be able to report cases of street harassment to the Police Women and Child Bureau or the nearest Police Station following which the relevant course of action would be adopted by these authorities.
The team behind the App
The ‘2six4’ android app which was upgraded last year was also made compatible on Apple iOs platforms thanks to the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Ms. Wadood says that moves are afoot to compile a ‘Cyber Exploitation Manual’ which will comprise the relevant laws and procedure to be followed when addressing online harassment.
Following a six-month promotion campaign on social media, the team behind the ‘2six4’ app has now begun to receive a considerable amount of favourable responses.
Very recently, the team managed to pull-off a sticker campaign that created awareness of harassment faced by women in public transport.
“A growing number of women have registered themselves with the app following the sticker campaign,” Ms. Wadood said.
The campaign was carried out in Colombo, Anuradhapura, Badulla, Jaffna, Batticaloa and Matara.
However, the lack of funding poses a challenge to the team which hopes to extend their promotional campaign.
Meeting with Police
The WIN organisation also hopes to introduce a communication channel which would enable users to drop their queries and receive guidance on matters concerning harassment faced by women.
The app which is available in English, Sinhala, and Tamil can be downloaded on both iOS and Android platforms.
Readers can mail their suggestions on the app to womeninneed87@gmail.com