BackVodafone Idea Foundation launches new app for safety and empowerment of women
MyAmbar app is available in both English and HindiIt provides women with an easy access to important helpline numbers and service providers across the country
PremiumVodafone Idea Foundation, the CSR arm of Vodafone Idea Limited, in partnership with NASSCOM Foundation, Sayfty Trust, and UN Women today announced the launch of ‘MyAmbar’ (meaning My Sky): A solution designed and developed especially for safety and empowerment of women in India.
MyAmbar app is available in both English and Hindi. It provides women with an easy access to important helpline numbers and service providers across the country. It also helps them through a step-by-step risk assessment tool guiding them through various ways of dealing with their current status. Its service directory also helps them reach out to legal and counselling services at a click of a button.
P. Balaji, Chief Regulatory & Corporate Affairs Officer, Vodafone Idea Limited explains some important aspects of the new application:
What is the idea behind MyAmbar and what led to the creation of it?
Vodafone Idea has always been committed to leveraging technology strengths to create social impact through sustainable solutions. We strongly believe that when you educate, empower or support a woman in any ecosystem, you impact her entire family, her immediate ecosystem in the community, which in turn brings in a strong multiplier effect on the overall social and economic development of the entire country. Continuing our efforts in this direction, we ideated and developed the MyAmbar app that is devised to assist women in distress by facilitating information and access to related support, over a single platform.
What are the safety features that will be built for women?
Some key safety features that the solution offers are:
- Self-risk assessment for users to understand their physical and emotional state along with recommendations for further course of action.
- A Step by step guide to help women take action in any case of violence.
- One of the most extensive ready to use directory of helpline numbers across India
- Upfront SOS helpline button
Will the helpline stay active 24*7? Also, can you tell us if the counsellors will be trained to take up emergency situations?
The application only provides a service directory of external service providers some of which are 24*7. Provision of services by trained professionals is the prerogative of the service providers and the solution is not involved in any training process.
Will the women in need of assistance have a safe place to go in a crisis situation or will the app provide guidance in reaching the law enforcement?
The solution provides easy to understand legal advice for women and how they can proceed in case they wish to take legal action against violence they are experiencing. The solution provides a database of all important helpline numbers for women.
How do you plan on spreading awareness of such an app in semi-urban and rural landscapes?
We have institutional partnerships with NASSCOM Foundation and also organisations like UN Women to spread awareness about the platform and outreach to women. We have also partnered with the National Commission of Women which handles cases of violence against women. The idea is also to take help from these social agents and use their network and outreach to educate women, help them understand and recognise the constituents of abuse around them and help them gain access to verified information on medical, legal and mental health services located close by.
Can the app function with low bandwidth internet connections like 2G?
My Ambar Application is supported even on 2G, and most of the features are also available for offline access too.
Can we expect support for more regional languages?
We definitely have plans to have the content in more regional languages so that more users are able to access the services provided by the solution.
Do you plan on taking help from pre-existing government agencies to increase the reach of the application?
While we are already working with NASSCOM Foundation, UN Women and NCW, we do have plans to partner with other relevant bodies to use their centres across the country to educate women, help them understand and recognise the constituents of abuse around them and help them gain access to verified information on medical, legal and mental health services located close by.
When will the application be available on app stores and do you plan on extending support for feature phones as well?
An android version of the application is already available on Google Playstore and the iOS version will be launched soon.
3.6 Crore Indians visited in a single day choosing us as India's undisputed platform for General Election Results. Explore the latest updates here!
