US launches app to prevent violence against Indonesian women and children

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Here’s an app that helps prevent and report violence, as well as provide support-services to Indonesian women for free.

The Android-based mobile application “HELP,” launched by the U.S. embassy, aims to raise women’s and children’s sense of awareness, security and empowerment.

“It is designed to provide immediate location and emergency services for woman subscribers,” Jerry Heuett, director of the International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) Indonesia, told Rappler on Thursday, April 21.

“We put together the woman leadership development project three years ago,” he said, adding it was a project of the U.S. Department of Justice.

The app’s language is Bahasa Indonesia. The main screen is a map showing the location of hospitals, police stations with women desks, and police posts, and there are buttons for SOS, or for sending notifications of the user’s current location with optional text messages and attachment of images.

“Through the app, women or children in crisis can immediately access emergency services, whether it is a police station, hospital, or NGO, to notify their family when they don’t feel comfortable about certain situations,” Heuett added.

A hotline is also provided through the app from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the week.

The U.S. embassy emphasized that the app was not to compete nor replicate what is already available, but mainly to gather all the resources in Bahasa Indonesia from civil society groups dedicated to preventing violence against women.

“The purpose off this app is not to compete with anybody. We want to be able to provide any information for women in crisis,” Heuett said, adding that he hopes the app can provide a variety of different information channels regarding law, trafficking, victimology and psychology to help women and children gain information. – Rappler.com