Young woman develops app that helps GBV victims
“I'm helping women gather evidence and raise their voices against gender-based violence.”
Gender-based violence is a serious challenge all over the world.
It is one of the most prevalent human rights violations, and mostly targeted at women and girls.
Each day, social media is flooded with images of women and girls who have suffered at the hands of men who are supposed to love and protect them.
However, it is important to know that GBV is not only violence resulting in physical, sexual or mental harm, but threats of such acts.
It also affects the LGBTQI community and it can also affect males. In fact, any act of violence against a person because of their gender falls under GBV.
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To combat the problem, a young lady by the name of Onele Nobongoza has developed an app where victims can report abuse.
The Kwanele App is an anti-GBV app downloaded to a cellphone where the user can instantly gather audio and visual evidence of the abuse. This is key because most reported GBV crimes are dismissed due to lack of evidence.
“I'm helping women gather evidence and raise their voices against gender-based violence,” Nobongoza told Beautiful News.
The app also has an alert button you can press which alerts the police where the victim is to make it easier for them to come and assist.
“Since the app went live, we have finalised over 95% of protection orders and all cases we worked on ended in convictions,” Nobongoza told the publication.
The 20-year-old innovator says the app gives women a voice.
“We deserve to be heard,” she told Beautiful News.
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Image courtesy of Beautiful News.