07 Jul 2020

Tele-text emergency lines were established to provide support for people with disabilities to combat and report cases of gender-based violence (GBV) during COVID-19. 

The director of Inclusive Directions-Botswana, Mr Moffat Louis, said the project was led by Inclusive Directions in partnership with Community Connections Botswana. He added that they were supported by the US Exchange Alumni Network and Partners of the Americas Incorporation.

Mr Louis explained that the innovation offered telephone counselling services with a texting platform which catered for people with disabilities, particularly the deaf and other people with related communication problems.

He noted that GBV cases grew during the lockdown, resulting in the need to set up a facility that would provide prompt confidential counselling, address urgent needs and follow-on services to ensure peoples safety.

He said the increase in the number of GBV cases during lockdown was not peculiar to Botswana, but was a global crisis which ought to be addressed instantly. 

“Although Botswana stakeholders are responding to this crisis, emergency response services are unlikely to be available to everyone in need due to unprecedented demand,” said Mr Louis. 

He said both organisations would work together to offer telephone-based emergency assistance to women and girls and support community members affected by gender-based violence.  

Mr Louis said primary support included information sharing and referral to a wide range of services that could assist and mitigate all forms of abuse. 

Moreover, he said the platform would provide statistics that would assist the nation with information on GBV cases, particularly those concerning people with disabilities. 

Mr Louis said his team has considered adding video calling as part of their future development in order to avoid information loss. 

He added that the video calling platform would help in showing the emotions, frustrations and intensity on the matter reported. He said a sign language interpreter would also be added to the platform to serve those conversing in sign language. 

Mr Louis said their efforts to mitigate against the gap identified would run for three months because of financial constraints. He added that their hope was that  government would adopt the project so that it became an everyday service that Batswana could embrace. Ends