Safecity Monthly Newsletter : April 2017
Safecity is growing exponentially and we’re constantly working hard to translate our vision to reality. Because we don’t want you to miss out on our work, we’ve decided to put together a monthly column to tell you about what we’ve been up to. You can sign up for our newsletter here.
#NotMyHero
Safecity and JWT India created the campaign #NotMyHero calling out the inherent sexism, stereotyping and harassment which is portrayed as acceptable in Bollywood films. The campaign was awarded the Bronze medal at the Creative Abbys Awards for the category Gender Sensitivity.
This campaign was headed by our Special Projects Officer, Jessica, and we are hugely thankful to her.
Launch of Safecity and the Safecity App in Trinidad and Tobago
Both Vital Voices Fellows, ElsaMarie D’Silva, our Founder, teamed up with Nicole Joseph Chin, owner of Miss Brafit to bring Safecity to Trinidad & Tobago.
Through her work in breast care Nicole encountered many women who had been assaulted and wanted to help them. She invited Elsa to T&T and organised meetings with stakeholders, school tours and other activities to educate citizens about Safecity which led to the launch of the local campaign to use Safecity and its App.
Women can discuss personal experiences of sexual violence in public spaces anonymously, while at the same time help identify location based trends, which is visualized on a map as hotspots, on Safecity App. You can read more about it here.
Anti Street Harassment Week
During International Anti-Street Harassment Week (2nd-8th April) 2017 organised by Stop Street Harassment, Safecity organised numerous activities to advocate safety, create awareness about the different types of harassment and call out deviant behaviour both on our online as well as offline streets.
Our online campaigns included the #MySafecity and #ItsNotOkay poster campaigns along with a TweetChat conducted by Global Utmaning. We conducted on-ground activites and events in Delhi, Mumbai, Amritsar and Trinidad and Tobago creating awareness about street harassment and urging people to report errant behaviour. You can read more about it here.
#GoSocialForChange
#GoSocialForChange was a panel discussion presented by USAID/INDIA and Creativeland Asia in association with The U.S. Consulate General Mumbai and One India Foundation, held on 18th April 2017 at The Ministry of New, Mumbai based on the question, ‘How can the social sector harness the power of social media to bring about change?’
Elsa D’Silva was the moderator for the panel consisting of speakers from Change.org, Creativeland Asia, GoZoop and Educate Girls. Ms. Nidhi Kamdar, Officer on Special Duty to Honorable Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis, provided remarks immediately following the Consul General’s remarks on the debate as well.
Working on the Sustainable Development Goals
As part of the Policy Strategy Group at World We Want 2030, Safecity organised and hosted a myriad of activities creating awareness about the Sustainable Development Goals.
Elsa D’Silva hosted a panel discussion on Twitter with amazing guests Kirthi Jayakumar of The Red Elephant Foundation, Anupama Kapoor of Reboot, Latha Sankarnarayan of Developmatrix and Chintan Girish Modi of #AaDostiKarein. Their conversation revolved around the issue of how the SDGs can be achieved both in personal capacity as well as a community. You can have a look at the storified version of the panel discussion here.
Mr. Ravi Karkara, Senior Advisor on Strategic Partnerships & Advocacy to the UN Women Executive Director /Assistant Secretary General and Co Chair (UN) Policy Strategy Group World We Want 2030, gave the welcome address before the panel discussion began. He stressed on the importance of including the youth whilst working on the SDGs to help those sections that are marginalised. We thank him for recognising our work on the SDGs. You can watch his welcome address here.
Safecity also conducted discussions around the same in Delhi, where Aarushee Shukla, our Youth Outreach Officer, along with her team of volunteers created awareness about the SDGs amongst the students and brought the event to a close when each of them took a pledge to work towards the SDGS. You can read more about it here and watch the video of our volunteers taking pledges on Youtube.
She’s Ambassador programme
Red Dot Foundation partnered with PVR Nest on their #ShesAmbassadorProgramme where Safecity will be part of an educational programme in schools in Mumbai by creating content for their curriculum. This content was put together by Tania Echaporia, our Head of Training and Youth Engagement with assistance from Anuja Sawant.
Flight to Denver
Safecity was recognised last year as one of 10 social innovations at the United Nations at the #SolutionsSummit. Subsequently we were invited to participate in #ProjectXite‘s #flight2Den, a collaboration between United Nations Foundation and Denver University for innovations recognised at Solutions Summit. Our Founder, ElsaMarie D’Silva represented Safecity at this bootcamp where the people of Colorado put together teams to work on Safecity’s challenges.
Safecity Emerging Leaders
Safecity is celebrating the journey of people who have emerged as leaders as our campaigns progressed in their communities through our blog series “Safecity Emerging Leaders”. Read the inspiring stories of these individuals who are passionate about making their neighbourhoods safer with Safecity and have taken action in their own special ways.
Read this month’s Emerging Leader Brenda’s story on our blog here.
When we asked Brenda about her experience doing an internship with Safecity, this is what she had to say –
“As my interest lies in policy making, Safecity gave me a platform to learn and understand some of the practical aspects of policy making. Through the exposure of on-ground field work , it gave me an insight of what I learn as a Public Policy student, that is to understand the relationship between the State and the Society.”
We have several opportunities for you to volunteer and take action. Do check our website.
Know Our Team
Know Our Team is a new blog series that attempts to bring to you the stories of our team, share our experiences, why we do what we do and special moments that have left an indelible mark in each of our lives.
Read this month’s blog by our Youth Outreach Officer in Delhi, Aarushee Shukhla, who writes about her experience with Safecity and her journey with us so far here.
“Safecity has been very close to my heart for the past two years because it has happily accepted me with all my imperfections and above all it’s providing an amazing platform for rebels like me to channelize my rage for productive endeavours!”
We are looking for a Program and Outreach Officer for Delhi and Bangalore. Do send your CV to info@reddotfoundation.org
TweetChats
Through our tweetchats we are trying to facilitate important conversations around various issues related to gender in general and women’s issues in particular.
Our curators this month conducted four TweetChats around the issue of Street Harassment, the different types, the debilitating effect it has on women whilst encouraging them to access public spaces. The theme for the month was Street Harassment in continuance with Anti Street Harassment Week.
Check out the storified tweetchats here-Safe Public Spaces- Key to Sustainable Development #AntiStreetHarassmentWeek, The Intersectionality Between Sexual Harassment and Dalit Identity, Making Universal Access to Safe Cities and Safe Spaces a Reality by 2030 and Against Street Harassment.
- 10th May- Vital Voices Global Mentoring Walk in Mumbai
- 17th May – Youth SDG Action lab at Dhirubhai Ambani School in Mumbai
- 20-21st May– Train the trainer with PVR Nest
- Every Friday at 9 pm IST/ 1130 am EST join us on Twitter @pinthecreep
