Victims of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) may no longer have to constantly relive the emotional trauma while seeking assistance to overcome the pain experienced.
This, as the Office of the Prime Minister – Gender and Child Affairs Unit officially unveiled the ‘Umbono System,’ aimed at capturing real-time data on activities and incidents related to Gender-Based Violence.
‘Umbono’ is a web-based application that was designed in-house by the Information and Communication Technologies Unit of the Office of the Prime Minister to capture real-time data on activities and incidents related to Gender-Based Violence locally, allowing First Responders from various State Agencies and Civil Society Organisations to input data.
Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister – Gender and Child Affairs, Ayanna Webster-Roy, said it is a major step forward.
“It allows us to oversee the entire care continuum, guiding victims of Gender-Based Violence or domestic violence from distress to a state of improved well-being.”
She said the system is more than just one to input data but to reduce re-traumatisation for victims.
“And because many organisations would use the same system, we reduce the chance of our clients being re-traumatised along that journey. Remember the story I shared about that former victim, having to retell the story, having to relive pain and hurt? Hopefully, this system will give another survivor a better chance to navigate through what is required to emerge better.”
Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, Kurt Meyer, said the system has been active for about three months and has already shown its effectiveness.
“We were actually able to identify a perpetrator of domestic violence, a repeat offender, and with the help of TTPS, we were able to provide targeted information, and after leading the TTPS on the merry dance, they were finally able to catch up with the individual, and right now he’s assisting the police with their enquiries.”
Minister Webster-Roy said the effectiveness of the system relies on the input of data from State Agencies and civil society.
“We need you to make this work. Without you inputting the data, without you ensuring that you put it in a timely manner, ensuring that what you put in is correct, the system wouldn’t work. It wouldn’t work the way it was intended to work.”
Calls logged through the system are also tagged geographically, allowing users to get critical data that could lead to policy decisions.