Measuring the incidence and reporting of Violence Against Women in Public Spaces in Dar es Salaam

Violence against women (VAW) in public spaces is a problem across the world. It violates women’s rights to live in freedom and safety, and negatively affects their health and wellbeing. Such violence affects women’s right to move – to commute, look for jobs, access healthcare and education – and their occupational choices and socioeconomic outcomes. Qualitative data suggests high rates of VAW including physical and sexual harassment, in public spaces in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Additionally, such violence is highly underreported and distinctively stigmatized. It also poses a unique risk to women in terms of its high frequency but low detection rate, large variation in its types, and high social tolerance. Poor data, weak reporting systems, no analytics, and the lack of policy experimentation constrain the government’s ability to develop policies and interventions to effectively monitor and ensure women’s safety in public spaces. In this project, we aim to contribute to the understanding of both the key issues of measurement and reporting of VAW in public transport. Specifically, this project aims to: (1) develop a GBV incident reporting mobile application (app) to record the various types of incidents experienced and witnessed by users and their perceptions of safety during their daily commute around the city in space and over time, (2) test the validity and scalability of this app-based measurement tool, (3) test the efficacy of low-cost alert-based behavioral nudges on reporting behavior and (4) test the effectiveness of the reporting app in making women feel safer and improving their mobility and self-efficacy.