The second national Presidential Summit on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide, which is being hosted at Gallagher Estate in Midrand, has captured the nation’s attention, and a number of organisations have developed creative ideas to aid in the battle against the current epidemic.
The summit’s main focus is on “Accountability, Acceleration and Amplification, NOW,” this year’s topic.
Community-based health provider Shout-it-Now said it would also highlight the role that technology might play in assisting survivors of gender-based violence when the various organisations and stakeholders gathered for the two-day summit to sketch out strategies to fighting the epidemic.
The organisation claimed that, in advance of the summit, it had introduced Chomi, a new free WhatsApp-based chatbot service, to show off the power of technology.
According to the organisation, Chomi was a kind bot that offered information and guidance backed by professionals to help and direct victims of abuse.
The user-friendly bot also provides service referrals to victims of gender-based violence or those who want to help those who knock on their door for assistance.
Chomi is apparently multilingual and gives support in English and IsiZulu in an effort to make it easier to use. Setswana and IsiXhosa are reportedly under development and are expected to be added this month, according to the group.
More than 640 messages were included in the chatbot, according to Christianne Wendler, a strategic advisor for Shout-it-Now, to give survivors and their friends access to cited information and anonymous assistance.
Wendler claimed that Chomi was conversational, understandable, and offered useful insights via nine streams in order to be accessible to people from all walks of life. These nine streams included contacts for emergency assistance, GBV information and frequently asked questions, how to report violence, and what to do if a person has been raped.
Additionally, it provides information on finding women’s shelters, legal support, safety planning, counselling support, and how victims can get in touch with assistance programmes.
