On the occasion of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, the 75th year of Independence of India, MyGov under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India and UN Women have come together to jointly launch the Amrit Mahotsav Shri Shakti Innovation Challenge 2021 to encourage technology solutions developed by Women Entrepreneurs that facilitate Women’s Safety and Empowerment. The aim is Nari Sashaktikaran, that is to empower women to help them achieve their full potential.
MyGov is the citizen-centric platform of the Government of India that empowers people to connect with the Government and contribute towards good governance. It is a unique path-breaking initiative which was launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi jiin 2014. MyGov brings the Government closer to the common citizen by using online platforms, thereby creating an interface for healthy exchange of ideas and views with the ultimate goal of contributing to the socio-economic transformation of India. MyGov is a key part of the policy and decision-making process in India, and the platform has been able to provide citizens a voice in the governance process and help them become stakeholders not only in policy formulation and recommendation but also implementation through actionable tasks. Some major attributes include Discussion, Tasks, Talks, Polls and Blogs based on diverse public policy issues.
UN Women, as the UN agency with the mandate to work on gender equality, is responsible for leading and coordinating United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world and at the country level.UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.
Government of India under the visionary leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister is committed to empowering women, and has taken various transformative steps in this direction. These include the MUDRA scheme for giving interest free loans to the poor, Ujjwala scheme whereby women were given free gas connections to free them from the drudgery of smoke-filled cooking, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao to educate the girl child, as well as abolition of triple talaq to give dignity to women.
The Government has also taken various steps to tackle Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) in its different forms including domestic violence, intimate partner violence, violence against children, sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment, and at different sites- private, public, work and online. The UN Secretary General has also made an appeal to the leaders of the Members States to put ‘Women and Girls Safety first’, and centre-stage gender responsive measures in their plans to address the challenge of COVID-19, to build back better and equal world. India was among 140 countries to endorse the call.
In this context, UN Women, along with three sister UN agencies – UNICEF, WHO and UNHCR, initiated a joint Programme under the Multi-Partner Trust Fund (MPTF) to prevent and respond to SGBV by scaling up and strengthening the ongoing interventions, given the impact of COVID-19. The Programme has been envisioned to empower and enhance the protection of women and girls from SGBV.
Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) is a violation of human rights and has a grave impact on victims/survivors, their families and communities. Covid-19 too has its own set of challenges some of which are disproportionately affecting women.
Internet users with limited digital skills too have become more at risk to cyberviolence, including SGBV. Women, girls and sometimes boys are at a higher risk for different forms of online violence, such as physical threats, sexual harassment, stalking, zoom bombing and sex trolling. Online violence against women, girls and boys may prevent their access to online services. In a 2019 UNICEF U-Report poll, more than 50% of girls and boys responded that they were not aware of services to report online violence. While the number of women connected to the internet has increased significantly due to the efforts of the Government, they are still less connected than men especially so in rural areas.
Additionally, evidence indicates that women and girls’ experiences of violence in all spaces: private, public, worksites and cyber, is one of the greatest barriers to their empowerment and development. The interconnectedness of the two is obvious. While freedom from all forms of violence accords women equal and safe spaces for their development, economic autonomy and rights enables them to exit abusive relationships and situations.
While, Government of India is focused on prevention and control of the epidemic, it has also ramped up its efforts to tackle the increasing challenge of safety, (including cyber safety) and empowerment for women and girls under various programmes through its Ministries/Departments.
Taking cognizance of the consequent impact of technology on women and girls, MyGov under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technologyand UN Women have come together to jointly address this problem through their respective mandates, and decided to launch the Shri Shakti Challenge 2021: Amrit Mahotsav Edition to encourage technology solutions that facilitate Women’s Safety and Empowerment.
Objectives
To support and promote women entrepreneurs and women led Start-ups to find innovative solutions in the area of Women Safety and Empowerment. In continuation of Covid-19 Shri Shakti Challenge last year, My Gov together with UN Women have come together yet again with a specific focus on women entrepreneurs led solutions. The solutions are expected to leverage technology that can be utilizedfor supporting women and girls on issues linked towomen’s safety and empowerment.
Stages
Challenge Process
Participants
- Registration on MyGov Portal
- All Participants have to register on MyGov Portal
- Post Registration a mail will be sent to the registered Email ID of participants acknowledging their MyGov Registration
- After registering on MyGov Portal, User can participate in the challenge
- Post – Registration
1. Participate and Submit Ideation Stage
- The individual/Company representation can now click on the Participate Button.
- The individual/Company representationcan now upload details and information in the portal.
2. Final Stage
- The top ten (10) teams enter the final stage
- The teams shall develop the PoCand present to the jury
Awards:-
- The selected entrepreneurs in the IDEATION Stagewill be given a grant of INR 1,00,000 each (total INR 10,00,000) to develop the Proof of Concept (POC) of their idea. Mentors will also be assigned to the entrepreneurs to help develop the idea.
- In the final Stage/PoC Stage, 3 entries will be selected for a reward of INR 5,00,000 each by UN Women, for final development and rollout.
- All the winners will be provided with a certificate of appreciation from MyGov
Deadline:- 17-09-2021
