Filipino innovators showcase tech options prioritizing ladies, kids’s security 

It is a press launch from Improvement Gateway: An IREX Enterprise and IREX.

MANILA, Philippines – Modern, domestically constructed options selling on-line security for Filipino customers, particularly ladies and youngsters, took middle stage on the Security-by-Design Grand Problem, held in Pasig Metropolis on Thursday, January 29.

The showcase occasion highlighted options from at the least 11 Filipino tech innovator teams that utilized Security-by-Design ideas of their digital merchandise, integrating consumer security and rights on the middle of product and repair design. 

This initiative is a part of the Nationwide Fashions for Girls’s Security On-line program led by worldwide organizations Improvement Gateway: An IREX Enterprise and IREX.

Themed “Celebrating Innovation and Security by Design: Constructing a Safer Digital Future for All,” the showcase highlighted revolutionary options grounded within the lived experiences of Filipinos and challenges confronted by ladies and youngsters on-line. 

Of the eleven options demonstrated, the highest three had been awarded as winners.

Tech group Cynder, led by Giovanni Angelo Balaguer, Carla Francesca Nobleza, and Ma. Criselda Bisda, was named the grand winner for its digital product Luna/Protected, a dual-layer cellular app that serves as a menstrual well being tracker, secret proof diary, and SOS device for ladies going through abuse. 

Customers can discreetly log encrypted incident data, set off one-click SOS alerts to trusted contacts, and entry localized hotlines and barangay Violence Towards Girls & Kids desks. Co-designed with survivors, it makes use of multi-PIN stealth, decoy screens, and sample evaluation to guard customers from coercion whereas supporting their journey by documentation of reporting and justice. With these options, it additionally earned a particular recognition for Finest Synergy with Privateness and Safety.

“All varieties of customers would be capable to entry the app independently and with selection. At present, individuals with disabilities or these with restricted mobility can’t use different safety apps as a result of they aren’t absolutely accessible,” Bisda mentioned, including that the app’s options are knowledgeable by her personal lived experiences and people of probably the most weak ladies. 

LIWA, a navigation app by Mika Ella Ramiro, Jedia Nicole Sagun, Reina Chlie Magpantay, Daniella Simara, and Gianne Crizzle Dasco from the Polytechnic College of the Philippines, took second place. Additionally they bagged a particular recognition for Finest in Proactive Hurt Prevention and acquired the best variety of votes from the viewers.

Designed for ladies and gender-diverse commuters, LIWA prioritizes safer, well-lit routes utilizing trusted group insights. Constructed with Security-by-Design and privacy-first ideas, the app prevents doxxing, stalking, and information misuse whereas empowering customers and offering establishments with instruments to determine and tackle real-world mobility dangers.

Alerto, a female-led platform by Cristina Macaraig and Erica Lu of WiredField Philippines Inc., positioned third. Incomes particular recognition for Finest in Service Supplier Duty, the platform makes use of AI, sensors, reside feeds, SOS alerts, and group reporting to show alerts from households and public areas into real-time alerts and coordinated motion, serving to stop disasters, on a regular basis emergencies, and harms resembling violence and on-line sexual abuse of girls and youngsters. 

Previous to the showcase, the tech teams participated in a three-day workshop and a collection of monthslong mentorship from Improvement Gateway and its native companions and collaborators. 

All taking part groups additionally acquired recognition in particular classes. Listed here are different Security-by-Design options by Filipino innovators: AIDA: Assist Assistant Chatbot, Protegere, Lokal First, CoOptimized or CoOp, Fireside PH, SafeTransit, PeaceEdHub.org, and Aletheia PH. Lots of the options are at the moment within the prototyping part.

Philippines nation lead of Improvement Gateway, Christine Sumog-oy, mirrored on the journey that led to the showcase: “I’m very happy with all of the featured options and the way far we now have come, from beginning with in-depth analysis on the net harms affecting ladies and ladies within the Philippines, to holding listening circles with survivors of gender-based violence in on-line areas, and convenings with authorities and personal sector actors to strengthen responses to digital harms.”

“We’re excited that these efforts will proceed past the Grand Problem, and inspired to see many stakeholders impressed to nurture extra tech innovators and group builders who design merchandise and initiatives with a proactive security lens,” she added. 

In the meantime, Armando Orcilla, supervising gender and growth specialist of the Philippine Fee on Girls and a choose for the showcase, mentioned he left the occasion with the takeaway that know-how, when used correctly, can additional empower ladies.

“Let’s not take a look at know-how as one thing towards or not for ladies’s empowerment. Given the best angle, mindset, and perspective, I believe it may be used to essentially push for ladies’s empowerment within the Philippines,” he mentioned. 

Annie Kilroy of Improvement Gateway additionally highlighted IREX and the group’s a long time of expertise supporting rights-respecting digital methods, and mentioned this system’s supplies, together with the Security-by-Design Practitioner’s Information, might be shared with companions to assist Filipinos entry group help and safer on-line areas.

The showcase introduced collectively over 100 individuals from civil society, authorities, the know-how sector, academia, and growth companions, with participation from Globe Telecom, Seize Philippines, UN Girls Philippines, and key authorities companies, together with the Philippine Fee on Girls, the Division of Data and Communications Expertise, Philippine Nationwide Police Anti-Cybercrime Group and Girls and Little one Safety Middle, Nationwide Telecommunications Fee, and the Nationwide Privateness Fee. – Rappler.com