Organisation Name: Breakthrough
Contact Parson: Manshreya Grover
Website: www.inbreakthrough.tv
Country: India
Email Id: manshreya@breakthrough.tv
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/BreakthroughIN/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/INBreakthrough

Breakthrough is a human rights organisation seeking to make violence and discrimination against women and girls unacceptable. It uses the power of arts, media, pop culture and community mobilisation to inspire people to take bold actions to build a world in which all people live with dignity, equality and justice. Breakthrough’s new campaign against sexual harassment in public spaces emerges from the need of girls who feel unsafe waiting alone for a bus or while boarding one alone. The campaign aims at asking common people,“What have you done to respond to sexual harassment?”

Just having well-lit bus stops or information about helpline numbers or police presence is not enough to stop sexual harassment until and unless people who occupy these spaces intervene and send a strong message that sexual harassment will not be tolerated. Through on-ground activation and digital platforms, the aim of this project is to empower women to talk about sexual harassment and sustain the conversation through social media.

The initiative uses social media to spread awareness about sexual harassment and combat the perception that women who have been assaulted were “asking for it”. For example, by using “#AskingForIt”, Breakthrough attempts to clarify what women are actually asking for — freedom to travel safely at night — and what they are not asking for — sexual harassment in any form. By empowering women to share their stories, social media has been used to spread awareness about what legally constitutes as sexual harassment, and how bystanders can help prevent it.

Organisation Name: My Choices Foundation
Contact Parson: Hannah Norling
Website: mychoicesfoundation.org
Country: India
Email Id: hannah@mychoicesfoundation.org

My Choices Foundation is an innovative NGO working to end domestic violence and trafficking of girls for sexual exploitation in India. It does this through two key initiatives: Operation Peace Maker and Operation Red Alert. My Choices Foundation aims to give women, children and families choices to live a life free from violence, abuse and exploitation.

It aims to see the transformation of India into a safe, peaceful, and encouraging place for women and girls by empowering women and girls with the awareness, education, and support that they need to become their own change agents.

It tries to achieve its motive by:

  • Empowering women and girls to become change agents in their own families and communities
  • Educating women, girls, families and communities that are at possible risk
  • Providing free, grassroots support to victims and their families.

My Choices Foundation leverages social media for three primary causes:

  • Generating awareness on the reality of domestic violence and human trafficking among the general Indian public
  • Adding to the national narrative on these issues and creating hope by telling stories of transformation
  • Changing mindsets so that respect for women and girls becomes a common priority, and taking action to end violence and exploitation of women and girls becomes a normal and expected action

Till date, My Choices Foundation’s most successful social media initiative has been ‘Respect 2 Protect’, a two-phase viral campaign featuring India’s favourite cricketers like MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ravi Shastri and Ambati Rayudu.

Organisation Name: Red Dot Foundation
Contact Parson: ElsaMarie Dsilva
Website: http://safecity.in
Country: India
Email Id: elsamarieds@gmail.com
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/Sayfty
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pinthecreep

Red Dot Foundation aims to crowd-map sexual violence in public spaces by conducting awareness workshops for different age groups on sexual violence and legal rights. Red Dot Foundation’s initiative Safecity is a platform that crowdsources personal stories of sexual harassment and abuse in public spaces to make public spaces safer and equally accessible to all, especially women and children, through data, technology and community mobilisation.

Safecity consists of several ways through which women or girls can connect with each other on the issue:

Crowd-map: People can share their stories anonymously by providing details of what happened, where and when. This information then gets aggregated as ‘hotspots’ on a map indicating location-based trends. People use the comments section to offer advice or show solidarity.

Data from site: Data collected from the site is then used to undertake local campaigns to find neighbourhood solutions. For example, police in Mumbai, Delhi and Goa receive a data file every month on location-based trends. In a Mumbai suburb, the police even changed their beat patrol timings based on our data.

Workshops: Workshops are regularly organised for different age groups and demographics to educate them on the issues, laws and personal rights surrounding safety and harassment, besides challenging cultural norms and attitudes.

Social media: Social media is used as a tool for advocacy, to create awareness about sexual violence and the legislation available for redressal, for reporting, for seeking help and to connect people on the issue.

Since December 26, 2012, Safecity has collected over 8,500 stories from over 50 cities in India, Kenya, Cameroon and Nepal. Over 5,000 people have attended its workshops on sexual violence awareness and legal rights.