In the period from October 26th to November 23rd, 2023, the TPO Foundation was part of the Regional Data Challenge initiated by the Association Sigurna mjesta from Zagreb. The safecity application was presented during online sessions with the aim of encouraging anonymous reporting of street harassment.
The Safecity application originated in India in 2012, created by Elsa Marie D’Silva. Since then, the application has expanded worldwide, translated, and localized by representatives of the Association, Ivana Šalinović and her colleagues. They undertook the translation due to the lack of tools for reporting street sexual harassment in our regions, specifically the absence of data on the actual situation in Croatia regarding this issue. Many have experienced some form of harassment but have been unable to share this information beyond a narrow circle of people who understand.
The online sessions covered several topics. Initially, the safecity application was introduced, followed by its creator, Elsa Marie D’Silva, discussing the reasons for the application’s creation and the results they achieved, particularly in India. Additionally, a representative of the FemPlatz organization from Belgrade presented the results of the research “Violence against women and girls in public spaces in Serbia” (2022), while Professor Anita Korajlija Ph.D., a collaborator of the Autonomous Women’s House Zagreb and a professor at the University of Zagreb, presented reactions to trauma and how to adequately talk to victims of street harassment. In the last session, a representative of the TPO Foundation discussed a specific type of street harassment – unauthorized photography.
By participating in the Regional Data Challenge, the TPO Foundation begins promoting the safecity application in Bosnia and Herzegovina. You can download the application from the Google Play Store or Apple Store or simply submit a report via the web form at the following link: https://safecity.in/. The report is anonymous, and it is recommended to fill it out in Croatian, as the adaptation of the application to other languages is still ongoing.
The Regional Data Challenge was initiated by the Safe Places Association from Zagreb, led by representatives Ivana Šalinović and Dunja Bonacci Skenderović.
