HarassMap - Reporting & Mapping Sexual Harassment on the Streets via SMS The Egyptian Centre for Womens

Rights NiJeL Community Impact Through Mapping January 8, 2009 Introduction Sexual harassment is a pervasive and persistent problem for Egyptian women regardless of age, class or appearance. The Egyptian Centre for Womens Rights (ECWR), a Cairo-based NGO dedicated to defending the legal rights of Egyptian women, recently surveyed 1,010 Egyptian and foreign women and found that 83% of Egyptian women and 98% of foreign women reported exposure to sexual harassment. Less than 2% of women reported going to the police for help. In the accompanying report, ECWR recommended an increase in awareness of sexual harassment, better documentation of sexual harassment complaints and an easy method for women to report incidents, among other recommendations. HarassMap, a mapping system for women in Egypt to report incidences of sexual harassment via SMS messaging, aims to provide a simple reporting tool that will document incidents and raise awareness of sexual harassment across Egypt. ECWR will partner with NiJeL a communitybased mapping organization based in Tempe, Arizona, to deploy HarassMap within six months of project initiation. HarrassMap Features HarassMap is a mapping and reporting tool that, when implemented, will allow sexual harassment victims to report those incidents anonymously using a simple text message from their mobile phone. Once reported, each incident will be located and approved by an Egypt-based administrator and appear on an interactive web-based map. By mapping these reports online, the entire system will act as an advocacy, prevention, and response tool, highlighting the severity and pervasiveness of the problem. Although limited to Egypt for the moment, ECWR shares experiences and ideas with organizations around the globe fighting sexual harassment in their countries. This project will be proposed as a model for adaptation particularly to Blank Noise Project in India, and Hollaback Girl in the USA. Upon implementation, HarassMap will have the following key features: Web-based Mapping Interface Using Google Maps Basemaps The HarassMap web front end will be the main portal for aggregating and displaying all of the individual SMS reports of sexual harassment. HarassMap users will be able to view incidents located on a Google Maps base layer by type of incident, by neighborhood or sub-neighborhood, and over

specified time periods. Different incident types will be displayed using specific map icons that correspond to the incident type. Users will also be able to generate reports of sexual harassment by type, neighborhood, or over a specific time interval via the HarassMap system. Integration With FrontlineSMS to Receive, Process and Send SMS Messages Incoming SMS messages will be received by a local mobile phone tethered to a computer running FrontlineSMS (http://www.frontlinesms.com/), and those messages will be instantly available for an ECWR staff member to review. FrontlineSMS will also return a SMS message with emergency contact and other information to the person reporting the incident. By the time HarassMap is deployed, we hope to have FrontlineSMS support of Egyptian Arabic in Arabic script and Egyptian Arabic in semi-standardized Latin script. Robust Administrative Interface for Approving SMS Incidents HarassMap will also feature an administrative area where an ECWR staff member can review, locate and approve SMS reported incidents streamed from FrontlineSMS. In the HarassMap administrative area, the ECWR staff member will be able to approve the incident, delete it, mark it as spam, or even respond to the person reporting the incident. They will also be able to refine the location of the incident to a neighborhood, landmark, street intersection or transit line.

Project Impacts HarassMap will have a significant and measurable impact not only on the women reporting incidents via SMS, but also on the way sexual harassment is viewed in Egyptian society. The following short logic model outlines what ECWR expects in terms of project outcomes and impacts:
Activities Allow women to SMS sexual harassment incidents to HarassMap Projected Outputs - Thousands of Egyptian and foreign women will add SMS incidents to the map - FrontlineSMS will return thousands of SMS messages with emergency and other information - Map displaying sexual harassment by location, type, or time of incident - Generated reports aggregating SMS data by type, location, or time of incident Projected Outcomes - Women reporting incidents will show less physical and psychological impacts from harassment - Women reporting incidents will be more productive, feel more secure and be more confident in others - Increased awareness of sexual harassment amongst Egyptians and Egyptian leaders - Improved documentation of the scale and scope of the sexual harassment problem in Egypt Measurement - Post-test only survey of random sample of women reporting incidents assessing their physical and psychological impacts, productivity, feeling of security, and confidence in others

Deploy web-based map of sexual harassment incidents

- Pre and post-test random sample survey of Egyptians and Egyptian leadership to measure their understanding of sexual harassment, and their knowledge of the size of the sexual harassment problem in Egypt.

Project Research, Report and Press Events To improve public awareness of HarassMap and sexual harassment as a serious issue in Egypt, we intend on holding a press conference to launch HarassMap, developing print and radio advertisements explaining the SMS system and partnering with a local researcher to review and synthesize these data and our project evaluation survey results into a print and web-based report.

Project Budget and Timeline

Activities Web-based Mapping Interface Using Google Maps Basemaps Create proof of concept web mapping interface skeleton Delineate and digitize major neighborhoods and sub-neighborhoods for location Digitize major transit routes Create user interface for viewing incidents by neighborhood, type and time Create PHP scripts to generate KML files for online map and for use in Google Earth Design culturally appropriate map icons for sexual harassment incidents Create system to generate reports on incidents by location, type and time Design site supporting English, Egyptian Arabic script and Egyptian Arabic in Latin script Implementation, Maintenance Support technology and cosmetic changes to site Evaluation Develop/Deploy survey measuring impacts of project on women (ECWR) Evaluation Develop/Deploy survey measuring Egyptians understanding of sexual har.** Integration With FrontlineSMS to Receive, Process and Send SMS Messages Purchase dedicated cell phones with each Egyptian provider with free SMS services Purchase computer to run installation of FrontlineSMS Install FrontlineSMS, connect phones, and test system Connect FrontlineSMS incoming messages to HarassMap admin page, test outgoing SMS Robust Administrative Interface for Approving SMS Incidents Create web admin area where ECWR admin can approve SMS messages; train admins Hire two ECWR employees to review, locate and approve SMS reports Implementation, Maintenance support updates to the internal code and admin pages Project Research, Report and Press Events Launchng press event, print and radio ads, local research staff Sub-total 725 hours NiJeL Travel to Cairo ECWR Project Coordinator Staff and Translation Grand Total * NiJeLs hourly rate for work with non-profit organizations is $68 per hour. ** ECWR plans to hire an external 3rd party survey contractor to conduct this survey.
2 $20,789 $83,739 $4,800 $15,255 $103,794 150 2 30 $10,200 $7,200 $2,040 4 1 40 60 $250 $1,200 $2,720 $4,080 40 40 15 80 40 30 60 80 20 40 1 $2,720 $2,720 $1,020 $5,440 $2,720 $2,040 $4,080 $5,440 $1,360 $2,720 $5,000

Hours/ Quantity

Cost* 1 2 3 4 5

Months 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

About The Egyptian Centre for Womens Rights ECWR was founded by 6 women in the Dar El Salaam neighborhood of Cairo in 1996 with the mission of providing direct legal aid to poor women and training them to know and claim their legal and political rights independently. Since then, we've added new programs based on our belief that women's rights are an essential part of human rights, and the struggle to secure basic freedoms and advance democratic rule cannot be separated from their achievement. Gender equality and women's empowerment are essential to creating an informed citizenry capable of promoting and sustaining the social, political and economic development of Egypt. Especially during this time of great potential for change in Egypt, our work to promote women's involvement in political and public life is essential to ensuring women's voice in decision-making and defining an agenda for change. ECWR's "The Street Is Ours" is the only project in Egypt taking on the issue of sexual harassment of women in the streets, our fledgling efforts have already gained unprecedented support from the public. Until now, we have been collecting stories from women about their experiences with sexual harassment and were confirmed in our fears that the worsening of this phenomenon has led to psychological effects as well as a decrease in women's willingness to go into the streets and participate in political and public life. As we move into the implementation phase, ECWR will tackle the issue on 3 fronts: increasing public awareness with a media and public outreach campaign; advocacy with the Ministry of the Interior for enforcement of laws protecting women and the adoption of a new law; and drafting and advocating with the Ministry of Education for new sensitization curricula for students. About NiJeL At NiJeL, we create maps that tell powerful stories and have real community impact. Across the globe, NiJeL uses high performance mapping to identify and mitigate social, economic, and environmental problems in poor communities now so they don't become humanitarian disasters later. We think our maps can be potent decision-making tools that can, among other things, help communities advocate for better living conditions, help people better understand a problem, and in turn, devise better solutions to those problems.