03 Oct Safetipin in the northeast
After the national workshop in February, in Delhi, The North East Network from Guwahati planned to adopt the Safetipin model of accessing safety in public spaces. North East Network is a women’s rights organization that focuses on empowerment of women of northeast around issues of livelihood, health, conflict and governance through capacity building, awareness raising, research and advocacy.
According to the survey conducted by NEN in 2012, 70 per cent women feel unsafe in Guwahati. To understand the factors that contribute to safety of women in public spaces and generate reports for advocacy, Safetipin safety mobile app is now being used by the NEN team.
On 28th April 2014, Safetipin was invited to Guwahati to give an orientation and training on the use of the safety app for conducting safety audits. With about 17 volunteers, a group mix of school students, social workers and environmentalists, safety audit training was done for three days, followed by mock safety walk every evening. This enthusiastic lot of volunteers carried quite a few grudges against the police and civil authorities and wants to create a safer city for themselves and their families.
Safety audits have started in the northeast and we will have more pins coming up from Shillong and Nagaland, alongside Guwahati.
