Viamo: Combating Domestic Violence in Mozambique
Client: Viamo | Algonquin College
UX Research & Service Design
The Situation in Mozambique:
When we talk about domestic violence, it’s really important to recognize that it is not just confined to a small group of people facing physical violence in cities or countries far away from ours. If we look carefully at our families, friends, or coworkers, we will discover that we are constantly interfacing with folks who either are experiencing or have experienced some form of domestic violence.
Over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, domestic violence has seen a surge globally (Usta, 2021). In Mozambique however, the heightened rates of domestic violence have sadly been a reality of life for its citizen for as long as they can remember.
Mozambique is a historically patriarchic society. And that has made It immensely difficult for the women to seek justice or even speak out against the violence and the oppression.
The fact that almost 90% of the cases of domestic abuse in Mozambique regularly go unreported (Jethá, 2021) is a sad testament to the missing voices of the victims. Due to the under-education of women in the country, most of the agencies for help are populated largely by men (Steege, 2020). This under-representation of women among the Community Health Workers and other agencies of help acts as another hurdle for the women who are trying to make their voices heard.
The real scale of the problem, however, is realized when you understand that one out of four women in Mozambique actually suffers from domestic violence regularly (Jethá, 2021).
With this in mind, my team and I set out to further understand the nuances of the problem of domestic violence that is plaguing Mozambique and to try and design interventions that might help alleviate the issue.
The historical patriarchy of Mozambique has made it immensely difficult for women to speak out against oppression and injustice.
The Spark!
After pouring over research papers and other academic literature (of which there are heartbreakingly few), along with news articles, UN Reports, and in-depth interviews of the victims, the team and I discovered a wonderful phenomenon. The research discovered a pattern where a number of victims that suffered through domestic violence eventually turn into activists themselves.
That’s when it struck us! These brave women are the key to unlocking the solution.
As survivors of domestic violence, these women are not only deeply empathetic towards the problem but are also Subject Matter Experts in the area. Moreover, as motivated and self-initiated individuals, this group of people is very agile and resourceful
The historical patriarchy of Mozambique has made it immensely difficult for women to speak out against oppression and injustice.
Unfortunately, the resources at their disposal are not always distributed equally. So while one activist has access to lawyers, she might lack access to medical help.
Recognizing this as an opportunity for change, the Team and I, in collaboration with Viamo, explore how IVR technologies can be used to help build a community of activists against domestic violence in Mozambique, in order to make it easier and faster to help victims by quicker circulation of resources.
Berta de Nazareth is a fierce advocate for women’s rights, in the fight against domestic violence in Mozambique.
Josina Machel, daughter of Mozambique’s first president Samara Machel and Graca Machel, went through this ordeal resulting in her being blinded in one eye.
Methods
Over a course of the coming weeks, we mapped the current ecosystem of the activists. This involved drafting appropriate iceberg models to isolate the mental models that inform the negative patterns. Personas were extrapolated and the activists’ main pain points and aspirations were collected.
Berta de Nazareth is a fierce advocate for women’s rights, in the fight against domestic violence in Mozambique.
Based on the information from these systems, the team fabricated various low and high-fidelity IVR prototypes of proposed interventions to help our target demographic, the activists.
The interventions were presented to Viamo to gather invaluable feedback from the various stakeholders. This feedback was then taken into account and the proposed intervention subsequently underwent various phases of iterations to create a final proposal.
A rough proposal of how the IVR system might work.
The Intervention:
Our intervention is a system of interactive voice recording services that will help activists connect with each other.
The activists will be able to connect with each other through a quick selection of menu options through the IVR system making the process of gathering urgent and useful resources (lawyers, medical help, financial assistance, etc.) exponentially faster. Moreover, the system will also incorporate lectures on Law and Psychology. Seminars, talks, and articles about gender norms and violence can also be added for the activists to refer to.
This intervention makes the life of the activists easier by allowing them to come together and play on each other’s strengths. It will also reduce their mental, emotional and physical workload because it allows them to share the responsibility of the victims that they’re helping, instead of getting overwhelmed alone. Moreover, this system will help to foster a tight-knit community of activists that are much more in communication with each other than ever before.
A rough proposal of how the IVR system might work.
Future Potential:
With this intervention, My team and I envision a future in Mozambique when this humble network grows across the country, and is operated by the specialized expertise of motivated activists who have spent their time sharpening their best skills.
We believe that a system like this has the potential to centralize, organize and mobilize the activist community in Mozambique like never before.
I would like to leave you with these closing thoughts by Maya Angelou…