The App MAYA- BANGLADESH’ S NEW AGE AGONY AUNT
women as they do not have to share their personal details while seeking answers to sensitive questions. Maya is also encouraging women to speak up on topics of violence and abuse. The website allows the user to filter topics by clicking on the apple icon on the right corner of the page which answers health questions, or the heart icon, that deals with the more social issues.“ The nature of our platform is to keep users anonymous— Maya doesn’ t even ask users for their names. It’ s not easy to ask for experts advice in developing countries and even when you are ready to ask a question there are barriers,” says Tamanna.
The VAW( Violence Against Women) Survey in Bangladesh shows an increase in domestic violence. The report further states that 87 per cent of the women in the country have claimed some form of abuse but only a third of them report it.“ Hence, for a country like Bangladesh, an anonymous service connecting users to experts where people can anonymously post a message and receive an answer in couple of simple steps, is the need of the hour,” adds Tamanna Ahmad.
The App
Maya’ s App which functions similar to the website has helped the team to reach more women in the country and also women of expat Bangladeshi women. The android app was launched in February 2015 and is gaining popularity among women in the country. It has been downloaded more than 80,000 times.“ After partnering with Free Basics of Facebook, our reach has expanded even further. Queries are coming from almost every district now- we want to reach every corner of the country.” says Tamanna. The Android app also has the option of including pictures with a question, or submitting a question through a voice recording. The App and the website are available in Bangla and English.
The future
Maya’ s focus is not just the tech-savvy women but also those living in rural areas. There are also those who do not have a computer to begin with. Internet for them is a far cry. Maya has teamed up with a few partners providing a platform through their local centers and hubs. Maya has been partnering with BRAC’ s Gender Justice and Diversity programme, since summer of 2014.“ They are the ideal partner for us, offering us the financial support we need to build our service. Moreover, they have unrivaled expertise in the development space and offer amazing reach for the service, helping us bridge the digital divide,” says Tamanna.
You can download the Maya app here and reach the team though facebookand Twitter
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