Policy Brief: Designing a multisectoral user-centred technology system for tackling violence against women

This policy brief shares the main findings and recommendations for developing policies and innovative technology solutions for addressing Gender-based Violence (GBV) in Sierra Leone. GBV is a major public health and social problem affecting the health, safety and livelihoods of 70 percent of women and their limited roles in building inclusive and smart communities in Sierra Leone. Drawing on evidence from interviews, survey questionnaire and workshops, we show that manual evidence gathering and referral processes along with the lack of a well-coordinated multi-sectoral collaboration, communication and data management systems impede effective response to GBV, resource mobilisation and women's access to timely services, learning materials and support. 

The interviews addressed topics such as service delivery, response strategy, communication, data management and the role of digital technology. Results from the interviews informed the design and administration of a survey that captured additional knowledge from 68 GBV stakeholders. The dataset was analysed to identify the potential for advancing technology solutions. This data also led to conceptual designs, proposing partial solutions for assisting GBV response and prevention efforts. Findings from interview and survey along with the conceptual designs were presented in a workshop, where the participants collaboratively deliberated the research results and discussed potential design solutions in terms of desirability and usefulness. Overall, evidence shows that innovative strategies based on user-centred designed technologies are needed to address these challenges.