Following the launch of #EcShlire (#WalkFreely) the sexual harassment reporting app 25 Feb., 2016, a cooperation between Open Data Kosovo, Girls Coding Kosova and Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN), the app has been downloaded for more than 800 times and the number of the sexual harassments that has been reported is around 300. According to reports 67.5% are made by females, 21.7% male and 10.8% other (including community LGBT). Spreading the word about the existence and the intention of the application was the challenging part.
In order to further promote #EcShlire, it became apparent that cooperating with public authorities and in the meantime raising awareness of people towards the issue of sexual harassment is an essential second phase of the project, which is supported by the Foundation “Une e du Kosoven”. The promoting plan includes activities such as using media channels (TV, Radio, Social Networks) to spread the word and using open public discussions to raise awareness of the issue of sexual harassment. The importance of the collaborating with public authorities is indisputable, therefore, during this phase of the project, the team will conduct regular meetings with the Kosovo Police to see the opportunities and set ground for a cooperation with #EcShlirë to create data driven preventive measures by using the app’s gathered data.
Furthermore, we are planning to work closely with the Ministry of Education and various education institutions. The idea is to organize open houses covering different municipalities in Kosovo to promote the reporting of sexual harassment by using classrooms as meeting points with young high school students. This will serve not only for the promotion of the platform but to help young students think differently about the issue of sexual harassment, to not let them embrace this as a familiar day-to-day phenomena, but show them how to fight against it for a better society. We see this as a very important next step, adding value and substance to the promotion strategy.
Furthermore, we are planning to work closely with the Ministry of Education and various education institutions. The idea is to organize open houses covering different municipalities in Kosovo to promote the reporting of sexual harassment by using classrooms as meeting points with young high school students. This will serve not only for the promotion of the platform but to help young students think differently about the issue of sexual harassment, to not let them embrace this as a familiar day-to-day phenomena, but show them how to fight against it for a better society. We see this as a very important next step, adding value and substance to the promotion strategy.
We invite you to download the app (https://goo.gl/zkuTze) and help spread the word.
Come walk with us freely, together!
