Project SAFE

Nigeria is facing its worst economic recession in four decades, whilst still dealing with the COVID- 19 pandemic and other emergencies such as insurgencies, civil unrest, general insecurity, gender-based violence (GBV), e.g. domestic violence, assault, rape) and insecurity. Numerous studies have shown that women often suffer in silence, unable and perhaps unwilling to report crimes and GBV due to a range of factors including perceived stigmatisation and inequity regarding access to justice against perpetrators of these heinous acts. Our intervention and study uses AI and data science tools to provide gender-inclusive and anonymised support for adult women (aged >18 years), - the population that have been highlighted as being at highest risk to GBV and other security challenges resulting from COVID-19. Data will be collected using a range of digital and traditional techniques and analysed using inductive content analysis. Ultimately, our goal is to mitigate GBV incidents and general insecurity, which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 Pandemic among adult women and provide a support platform to enhance women's psychosocial wellbeing while taking cultural norms and local context into account.