Kalpana Viswanath: Aspiring To Create Safe Spaces For Women
Kalpana Viswanath has built a solution that is unique as it addresses urban safety and women's rights using technology as an enabler rather than just imagining an emergency app. Her organisation’s tools aim to expand women's rights in the city.
Through her organisation Safetipin, Viswanath has done safety audits in over 60 cities in India and globally and has had active collaborations with over 25 city and municipal governments. Under her leadership and guidance, Safetipin uses data strategically to help city stakeholders through recommendations for improving urban spaces and services. Viswanath has written extensively on the issue in academic and popular modes and has established herself as a thought leader.
She has been an advocate for women’s safety and safe spaces at several platforms. Viswanath has worked with over 10 cities personally to help them design safe city programmes in partnership with UN Women and UN Habitat. Viswanath was the first to introduce safety audits in India in 2003 as part of Jagori, which has led safe city projects in Argentina, Tanzania, India and supported them in Vietnam, Cambodia etc. She is also a member of Delhi LG Committee on Women’s Safety and IBPD Micro mission of Safe city indicators, apart from founding Safetipin and ‘My Safetipin app’ for crowdsourcing data on women.
She has several recognitions under her kitty. These include Winner of UN Habitat Urban Best Practice Award and New Cities Urban Innovator Award, apart from being a part of Apolitical 100 most influential people in Gender Policy 2021.
Viswanath uses simple tools and technology to generate important data for change, builds courses and capacity building of city officials at all levels. She aspires to reach the most vulnerable and excluded groups who may be digitally challenged.
