Following a study carried out by CAWTAR on the obstacles hindering women's participation in political and civil life in 2016 in 4 Arab countries (Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia and Yemen) which demonstrated that gender-based violence in private and public spaces is a major obstacle. The national study on “gender-based violence in the public space conducted by CREDIF in Tunisia” in 2016 also showed that 53.5% of the women concerned by the survey declared that they had suffered some form of violence. in a public space during the last four years (2011-2015), 41.2% of women have suffered physical violence and 75.4% sexual violence. And following a recent CAWTAR study on gender-based violence in academia in 2019 which also demonstrated that sexual violence is addressed in this space, CAWTAR has developed with a group of young people a “SafeNess” mobile application .
This application aims to protect women from the violence they might encounter in public spaces such as sexual harassment, robberies, etc ... And to strengthen the capacities of women to exercise their citizenship and enjoy the public space.
The name SafeNess is a combination of the terms safe, from the English term safety and Ness meaning people in Arabic.
The application is based on 4 main axes:
1. The ability to choose a list of trusted people and send them the woman's position in case of danger, allowing them to follow her movements until I reach a safe place.
2. From the application you can ask for help by calling for help
3. The people who are asked to follow the movement of the woman can intervene in case of emergency either move on the spot or call for help.
4. The possibility of saving information in the event of an assault. The application records the geographic coordinates of the location, date and time to help the victim find help from the authorities.
SafeNess the mobile application aims to make public space a more secure environment, where mutual aid and inter-citizen cooperation will make our environment a more welcoming and peaceful environment for women so that they can enjoy this space safely and exercise their citizenship.