An Innovative way to Report incidents of Violence against Women, NGO Activities, Crisis Situations through Web/SMS/PhoneApps! The solution is a customization of the Ushahidi Platform. Installing it on a remote webserver. Adding more functionalities to it, like SMS Reporting, Voice IVR Rerpoting, Email Reporting, Twitter reports, integrating with Social Media so that the news reaches out to the masses. Bringing together the ones who need help and the Social Workers and NGOs who are willing to help with resources and

Problem

The high number of female foeticide, infanticide and human trafficking prevalent in India has placed it as the fourth most dangerous place for women in the world, according to a TrustLaw survey. Add to this this the frequent news about dowry deaths and rapes prevalent in the country, we are poised to become The Most Dangerous place for women to be soon. Though Media reports including Citizen Media Reporting might not fully solve the problem as the Problem of Violence Against Women is deep rooted in a society where men have always had the upper hand, It might just be a start to fighting against such a despicable social Evil. Also to be included is to engage Citizens in a two way news reporting service which which will bring people together in times of crisis. With these in mind, i have customized and implemented the famous Ushahidi platform to suit the needs of my endeavor to end Violence Against Women.

Solution

The solution is a customization of the Ushahidi Platform. Installing it on a remote webserver. Adding more functionalities to it, like SMS Reporting, Voice IVR Rerpoting, Email Reporting, Twitter reports, integrating with Social Media so that the news reaches out to the masses. Bringing together the ones who need help and the Social Workers and NGOs who are willing to help with resources and time. For me, “Innovation Lies in Simplicity” maps4aid is a simple citizen Reporting Service. The Platform that it runs on has been tested at many levels and is under constant development and available free to Organizations who are working for a social cause. All the tools that i have integrated with this platform also fall under the Open Source category. How does one report to us? 1. By visiting www.maps4aid.com and clicking on the “Submit A Report” Link 2. By Sending an SMS/MMS to the maps4aid Mobile Number available at the site. 3. By tweeting in Twitter with the hashtag #m4aid {Under Testing and Fine Tuning} 4. Ushahidi App for iphone pointing to www.maps4aid.com 5. Ushahidi App for Android pointing to www.maps4aid.com 6. By making a voice call. The call will be picked up by the IVR and the reporter follows the instructions to submit a report. PS: Once the reported is added to the database as a Verified Reporter, the Incident Reported will appear immediately on the website in real time. New Reporters will go through a credibility check and their content will be moderated by the administrator during the initial stages. Update: Hi, Salutations & Greetings from India! We would like to introduce ourselves as an ICT4D Initiative based in India Fighting to End Violence Against Women in India with out various initiatives. Out project is 2 month old now and we have received a positive feedback from our supporters and other Organizations who are fighting for the same cause. With that in mind, we have decided to step up our activities and take the initiative full time and build up a group of e-volunteers who will assist us in this cause. The Following are the initiatives that we have taken: 1. *Crisis Map* of Violence Against Women(VAW) in India - Ushahidi Deployment Tracking and Mapping the Spread of VAW in India and what actions are being taken. Visit the map here http://www.maps4aid.com [More than 500 Reports Added in 2 months] 2. A Nationwide *helplines* Crowdmap for India - Crowdmap Deployment with Information regarding Various Help available to Victims of VAW. Read more about this here http://www.blogs4aid.com/index.php/helplines 3. An *e-Volunteer Portal* based on the TeamLab framework which connects Volunteers and also adds up as a safe place for Victims if VAW to share their stories with the our closed community. Read more here http://www.blogs4aid.com/index.php/join-us . 4. *Nation Wide Reporting* Platform for VAW powered by our crisis map launched in November. Report via *SMS*, Android App, iPhone App, Web Form, Email. Publicity and Reported Mobilization in progress. Read more here http://www.blogs4aid.com/index.php/report-now 5. Nation Wide* VAW Report Statistics for 2010 *compiled from Govt. Sources. Read more here http://www.blogs4aid.com/index.php/statistics 6. A Campaign Poster collection hoping to Make an impact with visual aids. All events/ideas inspired from reports of our crisis map. See Collection here http://vawreport.wordpress.com/category/campaign-posters 7. Weekly *Google Map Reports* with a collection of maps4aid reports for that week. See sample here http://vawreport.wordpress.com/category/map-reports 8. *Daily VAW Reports *with a collection of Reports from maps4aid for that day. See here http://vawreport.wordpress.com/category/daily-reports 9. blogs4aid - A *Campaign Site* to assist the maps4aid Initiative. Visit Us here <http://www.blogs4aid.com/>. 10. Twitter Campaign here http://twitter.com/#!/maps4aid 11. Facebook Campaign here http://www.facebook.com/mapsforaid A lot of initiatives have been started and i have been taking them forward. Its a one person effort for the time being but with more and more volunteers being added on a daily basis, i will be able to find more content and outreach in each of the above mentioned initiatives. We seek your feedback on our initiative and how we can improve ourselves. We are also seeking for partnerships/sponsorships to make this a full time initiative and create a bigger impact. Thank You so much for your valuable time.

Example

Scenario 1: Lets say that maps4aid has teamed up with TrustLaw which is an Organization that provides Legal Representation and Support to Victims of Violence Against Women. TrustLaw Volunteers will be encouraged to enroll themselves with the “Get Alerts” functionality of maps4aid by 1. Visiting www.map4aid.com and clicking on the “Get Alerts” Tab 2. Provide their email address, the category in which they are willing to give their support [e.g Dowry cases, Rape, Abuse, Crime] and their Location with a Radius which will define their accessibility to respond to a particular report/incident. When a new Report is submitted to maps4aid.com which falls under the category and Location set by a TrustLaw volunteer, an email alert is sent to them and they can follow up by using the Comment Section available in each of the reports. If details to contact through phone/email/social networking is provided in the Report, then the Volunteer can contact them immediately and follow up. Scenario 2: A database of helplines, NGOs working in various fields of Social Development is in progress at maps4aid.com . Any one who is interested in finding an organization to volunteer with, can visit maps4aid.com and use the category filters on the right side of the map to locate Organizations on a map and contact them with the details they have provided.