Safecity Monthly Updates – February 2023

Safecity is committed to creating safer communities for everyone. Our goal is to empower citizens by helping them understand the potential risks they could face in different neighbourhoods. We can do this by sharing our experiences or others anonymously and make these stories available for all. The platform serves law enforcement agencies with information on sexual harassment and other crimes occurring in public and private spaces. The platform’s data helps keep public spaces safe by enabling authorities to keep track of incidents and prevent sexual harassment in the future.

Share our newsletter with your family, friends and colleagues.

 

Inclusion and Diversity Roundtable

Red Dot Foundation organized a series of roundtable discussions from December to February with its tech partner The Data Duck and 8 community-based Advisors on how to make our website and Safecity platform more accessible for people with different disabilities, including hidden disabilities.

It concluded with the third meeting on February 1, 2023 with a cohort of mothers and teachers of people/kids who are neurodivergent from Prayatna School, Pune.

Some of the recommendations that emerged from the discussions:

Neurodivergent people platform:

• Laws and easy access to helpline.
• Rating system for clinics, therapists, salons, airlines, institutions, hotels and restaurants (instead of locations) as persons with disabilities and their carers would value such information.
• Include non-physical forms of violence: emotional abuse, etc.
• Make it visual by allowing upload of photographs and videos and create features with animation: pictorial representation of the questions for borderline cases and case studies.
• Validation system to check the question is answered correctly. So there is a two step process to understand if the person has fully understood the question.
• Get a neurodivergence educator to guide Safecity on the possible tech upgrades.
• Awaaz app was suggested as a standard. (reference platform for neurodivergent folx)

We would like to thank Point of View for this opportunity to explore the possible options for upgrading our tech platform to be inclusive.

 

Environmental, Social & Governance Fellowship

A roundtable discussion was conducted with women experts from the STEM field. The objective of the talk was to highlight the importance of mentors in one’s journey through the 3 Cs: Challenges, Capabilities and Collaboration.

After the roundtable, the ESG fellows presented their projects to an audience of Women in STEAM and received feedback, at the online RISE summit which was held online on 3rd February and moderated by ElsaMarie D’Silva.

The panelists included Trupti Das, Usha Venkatraman, Nirmala Menon, Kavita Gonsalves, Dr. Deepali Nimbalkar, Dr Upasana Ray and Dr Arti Kashyap.

 

Red Dot Foundation at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, Mumbai

Red Dot Foundation participated in 2 events at the ever popular annual Kala Ghoda Arts Festival in Mumbai.

The U.S. Consulate General, Mumbai and Red Dot Foundation presented the award-winning docu-short ‘BIOSCOPE STORIES VS BOLLYWOOD’ film at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2023, at the YB Chavan Auditorium on February 5, 2023.

Panel discussion on ‘Bollywood, Gender Stereotypes and Gender-based Violence’.

Our panelists U.S. Consul General Mike Hankey, Rahul Bhat, Rajshri Deshpande, Harish Iyer, Adv. Audrey Dmello, Seema Sood and moderator Supreet K Singh.

U.S. Consul General Mike Hankey & our Co-Founder & CEO Supreet K Singh viewing the bioscope.

Feedback:

“I love the concept of the bioscope, it takes you back in time and merges old technology with the new. The well balanced panellists threw light on different aspects of Bollywood, its influencing factors and what the law has to put forward in matters of media content. The US Consul General being an ardent supporter of the NGO activities shared his perspective too.” – Erica Menezes

 

The event conducted on February 7, 2023 in collaboration with the Consulate General of Sweden, Mumbai, at Cooperage Bandstand was the 1st ever Global Guy Talk in Mumbai which commenced with a powerful play by MAVA on Toxic Masculinity, Harmful Stereotypes and Men Against Violence and Abuse, an insightful panel discussion of 6 panellists, followed by a Q&A session.

Panel discussion with Erik Malmberg Consul at Consulate General of Sweden in Mumbai, Keigan Pinto, Harish Iyer, Harish Sadani, Nikhil Taneja and moderated by Supreet K Singh.

Feedback:

“Grateful for conversations like the Red Dot Foundation and CG of Sweden in India’s initiative at KGAF. The starting point to impact behavioural change are conversations that create an awareness. We have gender stereotypes in society. Interactions like these focus on the need to be accepting as well as include diversity and alternate perspectives. Men have shied from open conversations and are equally subject to social pressures and biases. This panel discussion brings the hope of empowerment to all as we holistically evolve to an equitable, mindful society. A well represented panel of different dimensions and domains that followed the play— a curtain raiser that portrayed sensitively and conveyed the message across all segments of the audience. We need to talk for ourselves and for society. Great venue in the Cooperage garden and well moderated!” – Joanna Pinto

The super Red Dot Foundation team at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival!

 

Responsible Community Based Tourism

50 women were trained last month in Maharashtra and Udupi on the basics of Community Based Tourism and Entrepreneurship. Through our training, they were empowered to hone their micro-entrepreneurship skills and business. In addition, goods/services of 100 women trained in previous months were uploaded on the PlaceExploreLab website. These women hail from rural, marginalised communities from Goa, Udupi, Karwar and Dandeli, and have happily informed us that they have started receiving orders.

Community Based Tourism Life Skill Program for Women Entrepreneurs Maharashtra 2023.

 

Stand Up Against Street Harassment

A session on ByStander Intervention conducted by Shital Vidhate, our Program & Outreach Officer gets limelight in a Satara newspaper!!!

 

Vital Voices Global Mentoring Walk

Every year, we work with our Global Leadership Network to organize Global Mentoring Walks in their communities, convening women leaders to walk together.

Full house at the finale of the 8th Global Vital Voices Mentoring Walk held on Saturday, Feb 25- Mentor-Mentee Meet!

Vital Voices mentoring program with 30 pairs of mentors and mentees. The mentees were from 5 NGOs and all between 18-25 years of age. Aim is to guide these girls and help them discover a vision and direction in achieving their goals over a span of 3 months. Commendable pre-work done by the Vital Voice team to make sure each mentee was paired with a mentor who has an experience in the field the mentee wants to pursue.

 

Feedback:

“Thank you Elsa Dsilva for the opportunity to participate in the Mentoring Walk.

Pleasure to mentor a young, 20 year old Swati. She has inspired me with her smile to do more in life in spite of all she has faced in life.

A Saturday well spent with you, ElsaMarie D’Silva (she/her), Red Dot Foundation-Safecity, Vital Voices Global Partnership.” – Rita Verma, President and Head HR at DDB Mudra Group and Interbrand India, Leading Diversity and Inclusion for the group, Trained by Coach For Life USA

 

The impact of the Vital Voices Mentoring Walk can already be seen in this post by Ruchee Anand!

 

Rainbow Circles

Watch our Ambassadors in discussion with our team on the topics:

Mental health and self care and how they take care of their self care and mental well-being. Watch the IG Live here!

Street harassment and how we can intervene as a bystander. Watch the IG Live here!

 

BeliEVE Season 3

Check out this episode, with Pratima Manohar, Founder of The Urban Vision!

 

In Other Parts of the World

Roundtable discussion on self care and GBV with women in Brazil.

Our Chapter in Nigeria has started their advocacy campaign!

Chapter in Nigeria working with the dead community and introducing the Safecity app!

 

Red Dot Foundation features in the report “The path to net zero: how SMEs can lead the way” by The University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), supported by Intuit and the We Mean Business Coalition (WMBC).

 

What’s happening this month?

 

She Is – Water Sheroes Book Launch

We are excited to announce that our third book, She Is – Water Sheroes, written by ElsaMarie D’Silva and Supreet K Singh in partnership with Irena Creed is ready to hit the stands and will be launched on March 23rd, 2023.

29 dynamic women from the field of water in India and Canada were selected by a jury for the book. We are thankful to our partners that helped us in this project: Consulate General of Canada in Mumbai and the Officer of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India.

Grab a copy of the 1st book & 2nd book if you haven’t already.

 

#SheLeadsHere – STEM Leadership & Mentoring Program

Red Dot Foundation is inviting nominations of girls for the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) leadership and mentoring program, especially in the field of water. Through this program, Red Dot Foundation will be mentoring young women. This 3 month program with 2 sessions in a month (April-July 2023) will build capacity and leadership skills of young women to make their career in the STEM field.

Register here!

Last date for submission: March 21, 2023

 

SafeCircle

SafeCircle is a safe listening circle for survivors of violence and trauma to find support. The space is facilitated by our CEO Supreet K Singh and through these listening circles, survivors have found a community of support and solidarity where they share strategies and learn from each other’s experiences. Since May 2020 we have been providing psychosocial support to over 25 survivors.

Read on to learn more about SafeCircle here.

If you would like to attend a SafeCircle please visit here.

We cordially invite you to join these sessions. Once you register, our team will reach out to you with details such as the time and date of the SafeCircle.

 

Meet the latest addition to the Red Dot Foundation Team

Juggling work and hobbies like dancing and playing cricket, Mumbai based multi-talented Alex likes to dabble in short stories of yesteryear unsung Bollywood stars, in his spare time. Here’s a glimpse of his published works for Chitravedh Magazine under the banner of QAMYAB – THE FORGOTTEN GEMS OF BOLLYWOOD and BOMBAY TALKIES (Single Screens of Mumbai). – Alex Almeida, HR & Administrative Executive

 

Key points to understand through data – February

Reports collected from India in the month of February 2023

 

Safecity Reporting Platform

Safecity is a platform as a service product that powers communities, police and city government to prevent violence in public and private spaces. Our technology stack collects and analyses crowdsourced, anonymous reports of violent crime, identifying patterns and key insights. This data enables citizens, researchers and policymakers to create safer spaces by:

• Increasing awareness, transparency and public accountability
• Improving policy and tactical precision with data-led insights
• Optimising budgets to more effectively allocate resources

Get in touch if you want to be a Safecity partner: info@reddotfoundation.org

Report an incident on Safecity Platform
Download Safecity App on iOS Devices
Download Safecity App on Android Devices

 

Upcoming Events

• She Is – Water Sheroes Book Launch
• Instagram Lives with Ambassadors from Rainbow Circles
• Instagram Lives with our chapters for Vital Voices Project
• Safecity Twitter Chats & Spaces

Red Dot Foundation Events on Twitter every Wedenesday…..do join us!

 

– Recap of our February Tweetchats:

“Preventive Measures Against Harmful Traditions on Women and Girls” with Riddhi Bhutani and Prerana Keshav – bit.ly/3HKOCD2

“Overcoming Language Barriers to Make a Positive Impact” with Ekta Viiveck Verma – bit.ly/3ZeLo1H

 

– Recording of our Twitter Space:

“Women’s Health in Rural Areas: A Cross-Nation Perspective” with Cassandra Nazareth & Nicole Joseph-Chin on 1st February 2023. Check out the recording here.

 

Ongoing Projects

• Rainbow Circles
• STEM Leadership & Mentoring Program
• Stand Up Against Street Harassment with L’Oreal Paris India and Right To Be
• Responsible Community Based Tourism Program with SIDBI
• Responsible Community Based Tourism Program (GAME)
• Gender Sensitive and Inclusive STEM Leadership Program for young women from Delhi NCR
• Youth League for Safer Cities
• Alumni Circles
• Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) Fellowship
• Vital Voices Training