‘Digital Safe Tea,’ an interactive game developed by Ugandan civic technology organization Pollicy, has won a global UNESCO-Netexplo prize.
At this year’s edition of the UNESCO-Netexplo Innovation Forum, which took place on April 13, 2022, in Paris, France, the interactive and highly immersive fiction game on digital safety, created for women, was one of ten recipients of the 2022 Global Science and Technology Innovation awards.
According to available statistics, more than a third of women in Africa have experienced abuse online, rising to almost half for younger women. This is a vice that Digital Safe Tea was created to address. Speaking about the game, the founder of the platform, Neema Iyer, said: ”We created Digital Safe Tea’ to help African women deal with social media abuse. We incorporated the “choose your own adventure” format to help players navigate situations like doxing, phishing, online dating scams, non-consensual sharing of images (NCSI), and cyber-stalking. The game can be played in English, Luganda, Swahili or French.”
For the uninitiated, Netexplo, an independent observatory that studies the impact of digital tech on society and business, is a UNESCO partner since 2011. The Netexplo Observatory takes a unique, innovative approach to the study of digital society. Through its international spotting network, made up of globally renowned universities in the technology sphere, Netexplo explores the world for new uses of digital tech.
Netexplo revealed that the awards were presented to the top ten most insightful, powerful, and startling ideas from the previous year that have the potential to alter the world. Policy clinched one of the top ten positions at the event announced their triumph on their Twitter page: ”Thrilled to announce that we are 1 of 10 UNESCO-Netexplo Innovation Award winners for 2022 for our interactive fiction game on digital safety, chosen out of a pool of 3000!”
About Pollicy
Pollicy is an award-winning East African feminist civic technology collective. Pollicy’s work and research spans across the use and implementation of data and technology to engineer social change. In the recent past, we have researched ways through which Africans can take back control of their data and reimagine new ways of tech ownership.
Pollicy believes that digital transformation is not a one-time journey or success. It requires effort and commitment to building digital resilience and creating a more inclusive digital space. One such approach is targeting younger audiences and the growing population of digital natives through a series of mentorship and learning programs as well as innovative approaches such as interactive games, peer exchanges and the use of creative media, while still enrolled in learning institutions. It goes hand in hand with putting in place additional structures for upskilling young people with digital skills in order to improve their opportunity in the digital world. The internet is creating massive opportunities, but for all to reap the benefits, we must work closely with technology companies, academic institutions, government agencies and digital citizens to foster safe, meaningful and inclusive access to digital platforms.
Media Contact
Company Name: Digital Safetea
Contact Person: Ivie Folashade Osobase
Email: Send Email
Country: Uganda
Website: https://www.digitalsafetea.com/
