Safer Smarter Cities for Women and Girls

Can smart technologies make our cities safer for everyone, or are they too challenging for city authorities attempting to manage complex strategic outcomes? This action-oriented workshop from the City Leadership Initiative and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) explores how digital technologies can give voice to women’s experience and contemplates the role of government in responding effectively. As a starting point the session will present findings from the UNHabitat’s Technical Working Group on Safer Smarter Cities, exploring practical examples of how digital technologies are promoting safety outcomes in cities across the world. WAGGGS will also present data gathered through U-report (a platform designed to aggregate and amplify the voice of young people to speak out on issue that matter to them) on girls’ and young women’s experiences and perspectives. Through our global U-report poll, we will be able to develop a clearer understanding of the challenges girls and young women face in navigating urban space and gain insight into what they consider to be the best solutions. As an interactive session we will allow space for participants to reflect upon and share how they plan to use digital technologies to promote safer cities for women in their own organisations. Participants are also invited to join an on-going community of organisations, governments and institutions who are interested in developing knowledge and action in this area.