All organizations invited to the Safety Showcase demonstrated a deep adherence to participatory design with the target audience involved in the development, feedback, and iteration of the products. Stand out applications recognized the centrality of data privacy by either not collecting or storing identifiable data or when it is collected, taking precautionary measures to secure data and provide protections for those who may be at a higher risk of data violations or other violations stemming from gender-based violence (GBV), including intimate partner violence (IPV). We also noted applications that engaged with AI never used a tool out-of-the-box but always with modification and adaptation to a specific user base. 

 

Building technologies that center gender equality and inclusion directly contributes to the key targets of the Sustainable Development Goals, a UN-coordinated global plan agreed upon by all world leaders to build a greener, fairer and better world by 2030. All of the products showcased align with the aims of SDG 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, in particular SubTarget 5.2: End all violence against and exploitation of women and girls and SubTarget 5.8: Promote empowerment of women through technology, since core to the work of these organizations and their products is preventing and responding adequately to technology-facilitated gender-based violence. 

 

Some organizations also address additional SDG targets based on the aims of their specific interventions. For example, Reliabl, through its partnership with multiple organizations including the Technology Workers Alliance, rises to the goals of SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth, with efforts that work toward at least four of the SubTargets. CampusPal, focused on improving safety for university students on campus, meets the goals of SDG SubTarget 4.8: Build and upgrade inclusive and safe schools. Euki’s focus on reproductive health works towards SDG 3: Good Health and Wellbeing, and particularly SubTarget 3.7: Universal Access to Sexual and Reproductive Care, Family Planning, and Education. Shhor AI, with its work capturing hate speech in all forms, is reaching the aims of SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions through SubTarget 16.1: Reduce Violence Everywhere. The SDGs are a 15-year global effort, guiding countries to define their baselines and make measurable, accountable progress toward achieving a better, more equitable, and sustainable world for all. Building safer, gender-centered, and empowering technology is one component and a key component of reaching these goals. 

 

The Safety Showcase shares an overview of the field as it stands today, with representation of a diversity of technological interventions, of target audiences, and of solutions from around the world. Below are case studies of seven…