gender-based violence

SMS SOS: Reporting Gender-Based Violence in Haiti

Posted by MelissaUlbricht on Oct 14, 2010

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SMS SOS: Reporting Gender-Based Violence in Haiti data sheet 4984 Views

Since the devastating earthquake in Haiti in January, thousands of internally displaced persons are living in camps, where it is often not easy to report incidences of violence. An ongoing project from Survivors Connect uses mobile phones to support camp managers and community leaders to protect women and encourage people to report incidences. The project, called Ayiti SMS SOS -- Ayiti comes from the Creole word for Haiti -- allows individuals to submit reports via SMS.

Survivors Connect is an organization that works to enhance anti-trafficking movements around the world through the use of new media and connective technology. Survivors Connect partners with grassroots organizations to incorporate new technology to help improve on-the-ground efforts toward protection, prosecution, and prevention.

Basic Information
Website URL: 
http://www.survivorsconnect.or...
Organization involved in the project?: 
Survivors Connect
Project goals: 

The goal of Ayiti SMS SOS is to support displaced persons camp managers and community leaders in Haiti to protect women and encourage people to report incidences of violence.

Brief description of the project: 

Ayiti SMS SOS uses mobile phones to support camp managers and community leaders to protect women and encourage people to report incidences of violence in Haiti. The project allows individuals to submit reports via SMS. Reports are then referred to and responded by partner organizations in Haiti.

Target audience: 

Ayiti SMS SOS is not mass publicized in Haiti. Individuals within targeted camps for internally displaced people in Haiti can send SMS reports of violence. Reports are not limited to issues of human trafficking: any incident of violence, exploitation, rape, sexual assault, or child abuse can be reported by anyone in the targeted areas.

Detailed Information
Mobile Tools Used: 
FrontlineSMS
Ushahidi
Status: 
Ongoing
What worked well? : 

Ayiti SMS SOS uses an offline, peer-to-peer, user-centric approach to help build trust in the SMS system.

What did not work? What were the challenges?: 

One inherent challenge to the Ayiti SMS SOS project is the sensitive nature of the reports, which has an impact on how certain technologies are used. Another challenge is cost: Survivors Connect could not subsidize the cost of the SMS messages, so costs (1 gourde per message, the standard SMS rate in Haiti) are passed on the user.