Women Lead Pendidikan Seks
April 22, 2016

Digital Application to HELP Women in Danger

A digital application called HELP will provide access to immediate support service for women in danger in Indonesia.

by Ayunda Nurvitasari
English
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A digital application currently in its final stage of development will help Indonesian women protect themselves by providing access to immediate support service for those in danger.
 
HELP an initiative supported by the US Department of Justice was entirely developed by an Indonesian team under the International Criminal Investigative Training Asssitance Program (ICITAP) Indonesia. It was introduced to a group of police women and women activists on April 21 at @america in Jakarta.
 
US Ambassador Robert Blake said the platform is a response to the current situation where “many criminals were using apps and the internet to exploit women and children.”
 
“When women are empowered to participate socially, economically and politically, communities all over the world are going to benefit,” he added.
 
The app, which will be live in a couple of months, intergrate services to assist Indonesian women and children under threat of violence. Using geotagging technology, HELP is not only able to locate its users location, but also shows information on nearby services in their specific area, including the nearest police stations, hospitals and hotline services. The information window on each service will give description on the address, phone number, working hour, also type and flow of services. To protect migrant workers overseas, the app also provides information on the nearest consulate office.
 




But most important is the emergency buttons that allow users to automatically notify five personal contacts of possible danger. The “BUZZ” automatically sends the user’s location along with text message and image attachment to their listed contacts. The location will be updated every 5 seconds.
 
For immediate support, the app provides 110 button that direct them to police emergency line. Once pressed, the SOS button will also record the first 10 seconds while sending its user’s location to be processed and acted upon.
 
The other part of the platform is education and information. The in-app information resources provides content on human trafficking, domestic violence, child protection, sexual assaults, psychology and empowerment activities. It even provides information on laws and regulations, also e-Library that educates its users through news, videos, opinion and e-book. Other parties like organization and media can contribute to this part of the platform.
 
The platform is a work of collaboration involving the Indonesian National Police (POLRI), the Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection (KPPPA), the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Internal Affairs, the P2TP2A, Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI), the National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ayunda is interested in the intersection of pop culture, media, and gender issues. She earned her master's degree at Cultural Studies department, University of Indonesia. She is into Lana Del Rey, speculative fiction, and BoJack Horseman. Her own social media sites, however, are quite uneventful, but feel free to say hi: facebooktwitter.