Safecity at TheRodinhoods Open House at IIT Delhi

I am the Youth Outreach Program Co-ordinator for Safecity, currently handling the on-ground campaign in Delhi to create more awareness about the citizen’s initiative- Safecity amongst the youth of Delhi. Safecity is an online platform to increase awareness of street harassment. We are collecting reports from people who have faced or witnessed any sort of harassment to map the most unsafe areas in the country. 

When I entered the auditorium, I was welcomed by a set of enthusiastic and enterprising entrepreneurs. The energy in the room was immense and I had a great feeling about the 3 hour event which was about to commence. I was damn right. It was enlightening to know about so many innovative product/ service ideas at this one common platform.  

Mr. Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal is truly a visionary to create such a forum for entrepreneurs to share their ideas, challenges and successes. It was simply a pleasure to see him conduct this event in such a passionate and effortless manner. Hats off to him for promoting entrepreneurship and empowering entrepreneurs! Personally, I want to thank him for such a thoughtful gift – Autobiography of a Yogi.

I was privileged to present Safecity on this platform under the theme “There but not There” along 2 other entrepreneurs. Each of us had a unique set of challenges that we were facing to scale our impact. 

After giving a brief about the initiative and our milestones, I posed three critical questions to Mr Alok:

• How can we make the movement bigger?

Alok’s Suggestion: Whistle-blowing as a concept can be very effective for a movement such as ours. He said that since most women shy away from reporting incidents to the police, their friends, family members or neighbours should report such incidents. If the fear of possible punishment is instilled in the perpetrator, he will think twice before committing any acts of violence.

• How can we motivate our volunteers?

Alok’s Suggestion: In order to attract more volunteers, Mr Alok suggested that we use social-vanity as a tool. Newspapers, magazines and other publications can run photos of volunteers who have made substantial contribution to the cause and this will encourage more people to join.

• Should we create a Safecity mobile app?

Alok’s Suggestion: Regarding mobile accessibility, he was of the opinion that a mobile-friendly website will be enough. The audience members also gave insightful suggestions. One of the popular suggestions was that newspapers should print photos of unsafe places in Delhi along with the photo of the policemen or municipal authority in charge of that area. Public shaming will definitely help create change.

I want to thank all the Rodinhooders present there, who appreciated our efforts, volunteered to help us and contribute to the cause. Thank you so much.

Also, I hope to get some feedback and suggestions on this initiative by Rodinhooders around the world.

I am truly overwhelmed to be a part of this brotherhood 🙂