tharunopayam - her india conference - aug 24th 2016

Tharunopayam9000-24-3000

SMS helpline for Girls and Women

Sathvik Ponangi,Director, Doers’ GuildTechnology Advisor,

Tharuni

Presented at the HER India Conference on

24th August 2016 at ISB Hyderabad

Doers’ Guild

Doers’ Guild, is a five year old Software Solutions company with Solutions across various verticals like e- and m- commerce, paper-less offices and processes, networking platforms and web-engagement.

Doers’ Guild

Doers’ Guild’s software also powers the paper-less systems at the award-winning and much-needed Bharosa Center, a one-stop center for women victims of violence, an initiative by the Hyderabad City Police

Doers’ Guild

Along with providing the technological backbone of several businesses and initiatives, Doers’ Guild also contributes to Open-Source software and software for social good.

BackgroundOver the last 15 years,

Tharuni has been fighting for empowering rural women

And against

Gender based Violence

Human Trafficking

Child Labour

Child Marriages

Infanticide and Foeticide

Background

Tharuni primarily does this through

On the ground activities like

Awareness campaigns

Girl-child support groups

Local volunteer networks

Rescue and Rehabilitation

Advocacy

Roping in local officials & state machinery

Background

Tharuni has been able to help thousands of women and bring about real change at the community level in the villages it worked in

Background

But reaching out and helping girls and women at an individual level was difficult, if not impossible through traditional means given the resources at hand

Background

A strong support system is especially important for adolescent girls (11-19) who are undergoing rapid changes both physically and in the social role expected of them

Background

They tend to have many unanswered questions about their own bodies, issues with their new-found relationships, etc and no one around to really answer them

Background

Similarly for Women who are facing violence at home or issues with their relationships where they find it hard to get the right support and legal guidance.

Background

So to reach these unreached girls and women and help them through at an individual level, Tharuni decided to look to technology, and approached Doers’ Guild. We hit upon the idea of Tharunopayam

Why an SMS Helpline

Most rural households have at-least one mobile phone and the people, especially the adolescent girls that primarily need our help, are used to texting via SMS

Why an SMS Helpline

They typically do not have internet access and Smartphones, so an Android or a web application wouldn’t really be useful to most of them

Why a Confidential SMS Helpline

Some traditional phone-call-based helplines already exist. But research shows teenagers have inhibitions about speaking to a stranger about their problems.

Why a Confidential SMS Helpline

These inhibitions are amplified when they have questions about traditionally taboo, but important topics like menstrual health, as they worry about revealing their identity, and facing social stigma

Why a Confidential SMS Helpline

So given that they are used to SMS and given the issues with other modes of reaching them, we decided a Confidential SMS Helpline would work best for them

How Tharunopayam worksTharunopayam helps them with queries across various topics like● Health

● Education● Employment● Soft-skills● Relationships● Legal

How Tharunopayam works

How Tharunopayam works

It also helps them bring to light, the various abuses around them, and tip-off Tharuni about Child Marriages, Forced Labor, Trafficking and other issues, that they or the people they know are facing

How Tharunopayam works

A dedicated team of qualified experts including experienced social workers, lawyers, gynecologists and psychologists who work on a voluntary basis answer the queries through an online portal

How Tharunopayam works

How Tharunopayam works

The users can SMS their queries in any language that they’re comfortable with be it English, Telugu or the Telugu typed out in English that they are the most used to

How Tharunopayam works

Once they do, they get an automated confirmation reply, and the query is automatically classified based on keywords and assigned to the appropriate experts

How Tharunopayam works

The appropriate experts receive an email notification and can answer the query at their leisure, depending on the urgency, by logging in to the portal through any internet connected device

How Tharunopayam works

The portal shows a chat conversation view, with the entire conversation history for each user, but does not reveal the user’s phone-number or name, unless they choose to share it in the SMS

How Tharunopayam works

How Tharunopayam works

A simple Android phone with a standard connection acts as the SMS relay server accepting messages from users and sending them the experts’ replies, making it quite cost-effective to run.

The impact

Tharunopayam has been able to reach over 1500 girls and women, from different States, in the three years since its launch, without a lot of publicity - highlighting the need for such a service.

The impact

The impact - Case Study - 1

A 25 year old mother of two was facing severe domestic violence and financial troubles. She was not allowed to work despite having a decent education ...

The impact - Case Study - 1

She reached out to Tharunopayam and our experts were able to get her legal and police help. She is now happily working and her family has turned supportive through counseling. She now campaigns for Tharuni.

The impact - Case Study - 2

A 21 year old MBA graduate was jobless and depressed when she reached out.Through counseling and connecting her, Tharunopayam helped her get a job. She volunteers for Tharuni now.

The impact - Case Study - 3

A user tipped us off that their friend was being forced into a Child Marriage. Acting on their information, Tharuni was able to intervene and prevent the Child Marriage.

The impact - Case Study - 4

A young girl was sexuallly abused and was afraid to speak out, when she contacted Tharunopayam. Legal help was provided to her and she has been rehabilitated.

What nextWhatsApp and Online supportFull time, paid CounsellorsTelephone Helpline for cases where

the Counsellors need to step inAwareness campaigns and

workshopsAutomatic answers for FAQs

How you can help

1.Spreading the number 9000-24-3000

2.Volunteering your time as an expert

3.Getting your company to sponsor the expansion of Tharunopayam’s reach and capacity

Thank you!Share 9000-24-3000

http://upayam.tharuni.org

sathvik@doersguild.com