Safecity Monthly Updates – February 2021
Safecity aims at making our cities safer for every citizen. It is rigorously working towards the fulfillment of this cause by empowerment through data. By reporting and sharing your story, one can help and aware others through this platform. The data collected at the Safecity reporting platform also ensures help for our local governing and authoritative bodies in regulating violent crimes in our cities in both public and private spaces.
NGO Committee for Social Development: Civil Forum
The United Nations Commission for Social Development was held virtually from 5 to 17 February 2021. It focused on “A socially just transition towards sustainable development: the role of digital technologies on social development and well-being of all”, a crucial and relevant theme in the context of the global pandemic.The NGO Committee for Social Development, is the first of the eleven substantive committees to host a completely virtual Civil Society Forum in partnership with UNDESA and FES. Red Dot Foundation holds the Vice Chair position on the Committee and was actively involved in the planning and execution of The Civil Society Forum.
With 100% virtual networking, panel events and fire-side style conversations, the week was action packed, educational and advocacy charged, the committee virtually hosted over 1,200 people with a social media reach of over 50,000 interactions from the Committee alone. In addition to over 60 side events from various NGOS from across the globe.
Here is an overview of the civil society forum: an in-depth look at photos, videos of the grass root voices and recordings of the entire events:
Apart from playing an organising role, ElsaMarie DSilva spoke at the High level panel discussion on the priority theme. Her central message was, “If we need to have sustainable development we need to put women and girls at the centre of the digital technology and social development agenda.” You may check the recording (at 58 mins) on UN WebTV. Gillian D’Souza gave the closing address at the civil society forum. This recording can be found on UN WebTV here.
The Committee launched the Civil Society Declaration which was open to public endorsement and has till date received endorsement by over 700+ individuals and organizations.
Unlock your Potential: Be a Supershero
The Consulate General of Sweden, Mumbai in collaboration with Red Dot Foundation, Swedish Institute, and Genusfotografen organized a digital workshop at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2021 on how one can use ‘Art and Photography’ to break gender stereotypes and barriers and further promote a gender-equal approach in their communities and societies.
Everyone, irrespective of gender, should have equal access to rights and opportunities. A gender-equal world contributes to peace, security, democracy, and sustainable development. However, traditional gender stereotypes restrict the normal development of individuals and threaten the equality status. It is, therefore, important for us to break these barriers and promote a more gender-equal view.
The workshop was attended by over 70 people which was also covered by The Indian Express.
One Billion Rising
In support of the One Billion Rising campaign, we conducted a virtual event with children from various cities. The theme of the One Billion Rising campaign this year is Rising Gardens which is based on mother earth and gender-based violence.
The session was quite interactive and engaged the children in singing, painting and dancing with fellow participants. The session began with a song performed by Safecity’s team member Gouri. Post which, we organized an activity wherein we showed them some pictures and asked them to evaluate the meaning and connotations of the presented pictures. Through pictures, we discussed environment degradation, work distribution at home, and other aspects of gender inequality.
It was followed by a session where kids made paintings based upon the theme of mother earth. We concluded the session by dancing together to a song.
Campus Ambassador Program
The Campus Ambassador Programme is an initiative by Safecity to create safe campuses and communities by engaging youth from colleges. This program aims to empower young leaders while giving them first-hand experience of leadership, communication, and organizational skills.
In the month of February, we conducted three sessions with students from different colleges all over India and some participants from Nigeria too. We also did an introductory session on the Safe Campus Program with Gopal Das Narayan University, Rohtas, Bihar. More than 100 students participated in these sessions.
Many students expressed interest in being a part of this program. Students who chose to be campus ambassadors will be working with us over a six month period and will be bringing change in their campuses and communities.
Cyber Saathi
This month, for the Cyber Saathi campaign, we conducted several online sessions for over 650 college and school children from grades 7-12 in Western India on behalf of the US Consulate General of Mumbai. The focus of these sessions is not only to enable youth to become confident and aware of cyberspace and its pros and cons but also to eliminate biases regarding various genders. In these sessions, we discuss cyber crimes from a gender perspective.
Many times participants associate certain professions and behavior with a specific gender. Cyber Saathi sessions make them rethink these stereotypes.
The principal of Jay Bhawani High school, Satara and Junior college, Wagholi gave lauded appreciation for these sessions.
The principal of Shankarrao Jagtap Arts and Commerce College, Wagholi appreciated this project and highlighted that this session is very important and should be included in the curriculum of schools.
If you want to conduct a Cybersaathi session, reach out to us at india.safecity@gmail.com
Covid19 Pandemic: When can we expect to return to Normal?
Red Dot Foundation hosted a panel discussion on COVID-19 Pandemic: When we can expect the return to the Normal? with the Bosch Alumni Network India. Opening remarks were given by Ms. Marja Einig, Vice Consul, German Consulate of Mumbai followed by Dr. Chandrakant Lahariya, Priti Damle, and Arundhati Char’s insightful points.
Intern Talks: Udipt Bhuyan
My name is Udipt Bhuyan, born and brought up in Odisha, I am an engineer and currently pursuing my MBA. I love exploring new territories which were possible due to ample time in lockdown. I am keen on digging deeper into my values as well as strategy, marketing, and creative knowledge to become more proficient.
The pandemic reinforced my belief of “Failures are the pillars of success”. It proved to be valuable for me in terms of life lessons and epiphanies. I believe selflessness is the source of good work and my strong will to serve others brought me to Safecity in 2021. While I work hard in creating awareness at Safecity through my work, I want to leave you with a life mantra which helped me strive so far. I thoroughly believe in 4C’s which are Contributing, Cooperation, Creativity and Communication. Not only do these help me towards a fresh outlook on life but expand my mental horizon for dealing with situations in social, professional, and cultural understanding.
Emerging Leader: Shreya Singh
“As a woman, I have no country. As a woman my country is the whole world” – Virginia Wolf.
I started off with a quote because as much as we deny, quotes are the best tools to grab attention and make the verbatim personalized. Now that I have done both things, I am Shreya Singh pursuing my undergraduate in Political Science Major. Largely, I am interested in only these two things: feminism and politics, at most the intersectionality that comes out of it, to a point that these terms can define my entire thought process.
I have grown up as a far more privileged woman than the women who have been responsible for shaping and nurturing me, which is why the only thing that inspires me in life is to bring a tangible amount of change in the lives of such women.
The reason that I wanted to join Safecity is the same but also because of the grassroots level work and a considerable amount of change that they have been able to bring because of the unique techniques they use in their platform and approach to campaigns. As someone who wishes to work in the field of Research and Public Policy, I believe NGOs work selflessly to garner a certain amount of hardcore policy change, act as a pressure group, and impact the status quo in a way that no other institution does. That being said, I genuinely hope the agendas and values that Safecity endorses reach to masses in chunks and we have an inclusive society in practice.
I hope everyone stays in the pink of health, both physically and mentally!
Safecity Reporting Platform
Safecity aims at making our cities safer for every citizen. It is rigorously working towards the fulfillment of this cause by empowerment through data. By reporting and sharing your story, one can help and aware others through this platform. The data collected at the Safecity reporting platform also ensures help for our local governing and authoritative bodies in regulating violent crimes in our cities in both public and private spaces.
Upcoming Events in March
- 3rd March, 0600 pm IST – #WebTalks at IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute प्रभाव एवं नीति अनुसंधान संस्थान The State of Gender Equality – #GenderGaps #safecity Register here >
- 3rd March, 0400 pm IST – Knowledge Cafe, Human trafficking: An overview of the menace and ways to combat it.The session is conducted by Pallabi Ghosh, founder of Impact and Dialogue Foundation. Register here >
- 8th March, 0130 pm IST – The Future of Women, Gender, and Health at St Luke’s Medical College Philippines. #WomensMonth #IWD2021 Aspen Institute New Voices Fellowship Renzo Guinto
- 8th-10th March, 1000 am IST – ElsaMarie D’Silva will be moderating a panel with Manreet Someshwar and Juhi Chaturvedi on Changing Narratives in a Man Made World. #AllInAllWeek. Register here >
- 9th March, 1030 pm IST – #TuesdayTalks with CARE Atlanta
- 11th March, 0630 pm IST – Moderating a panel on Using Technology to address Gender Based Violence at MenEngage Alliance #UbuntuSymposium with Ritu Prakash David Harrish Iyer @TanyaMaringo Register here >
- 12th March – ElsaMarie D’Silva will be moderating a panel on Tech and Gender based violence at Grace Hopper Celebration 2021 with Ritu Prakash David and Rudradeb from Omdena. Register here >
- 13th March – ElsaMarie D’Silva will be a jury member at Women In Tech Asia’s Women in AI Datathon – Combat Domestic Violence with Data and AI. Register here >
- 16th March, 0630 pm IST – #NGOCSW65 – ElsaMarie D’Silva will be moderating a panel on Gender Justice with ICT with Lauren C Anderson Nappinai Ns and Beatriz Della Costa. Register here >
- 16th March, 2330 pm IST – ElsaMarie D’Silva will be speaking at a panel on Transforming gender stereotypes: Making the uncomfortable conversation comfortable by IPA. Register here >
- 17th March – ElsaMarie D’Silva sharing her journey at Safecity with the Robert Bosch Foundation Alumni Association iac Berlin
- 18th March, 0930 pm IST – Speaker at #CSW65 UN and UNANIMA International’s Helping women move from “Trauma to Empowerment”
- 23-24th March – We are speaking at World Communities Forum
That’s all for this month. Keep watching this space and we’ll keep you updated on all our work every month!