Four individuals, namely, Elsa D'Silva, Saloni Malhotra, Surya Velamuri and Aditya Kapoor thought of raising their voices regarding the issue of women safety. Read about their website and campaign Safecity.in.
Why did you think of starting such a campaign?
My partners and I were working on a women's mentoring program when the rape happened in Delhi (Dec 2012). We were then compelled to start Safecity as we believed that was the need of the hour.
How and when did you think of the idea?
We had first heard of a crowdmapping tool for sexual harassment and abuse in early Dec 2012. We were at a management programme and working on a project for women's empowerment and mentoring. Safecity was going to be our second project but it got fast tracked to being our first one.
What was the response that you got in the initial stages?
We got a good response from both citizens and the media. Since 26 Dec 2012 we have collected over 1900 personal stories from over 50 cities in India. We have over 19000 fb likes and we have been continuously supported by the media. A lot of people were comforted to know about an online tool that allowed them to report or share their story anonymously.
How do you operate, how big is the team? Do you have an office?
We don't have an office. We currently operate as a citizen's initiative. Everyone pitches in with their time, effort and skills. We are 4 founders - Elsa D'Silva, Saloni Malhotra, Surya Velamuri and Aditya Kapoor. We have over 20 volunteers all across India who help us with various areas.
It is an amazing cause, but how will only spreading awareness help in making our city safe? The creeps won't stop because of that.
This is a global phenomenon and not restricted to India. However data on sexual harassment cases are very low making it difficult to establish as a problem and therefore difficult to find effective solutions. We need to create awareness on the following areas:
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Women should break their silence and not tolerate sexual harassment any longer.
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Men should be sensitised to behave appropriately with women and as bystanders get involved to help women.
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Women should report their story on Safecity which aggregates data to identify location based trends. Also they must be encouraged to report to police.
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Data on Safecity is freely available for download. People can sign up for alerts based on location and category of crime. This can help them take personal precautions when going to a new area or even an area they live in and are familiar with.
What is the next step after this? After finding the hot-spots or the unsafe areas?
Our aim is to collect mass data to map 100 unsafe areas in large metros and 25 unsafe areas in smaller towns and cities. This can then be used by authorities like the police, local administration, etc as well as educational institutions, residential welfare associations and corporates to take effective steps to make the areas highlighted as hotspots more safe for everyone.
And what about the places which do not have access to internet?
Currently we are focussing only on urban areas.
Is this how you actually wanted your website to be? Or did you have something else in mind?
This is how we intended it to be. However we would like more people to share their stories. In future, we aim to conduct outreach programmes in schools, colleges and corporates to sensitise the various people on this subject as well as educate them on resources available to them. We also aim to start Safecity Sundays where people can share their stories personally, find help and work together on solutions.
Are you happy with the feedback and response you get?
We are truly touched with the response we have received from our volunteers, people who have shared their personal stories, people who have offered help to the victims and the many supporters of our cause.
Do you have any offline campaigns?
We currently are running 2 campaigns:
Map 100 unsafe places in Delhi with WhyPoll.
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