Welcome to Part 1 of our March 2025 Inspirational Interview with ElsaMarie D’Silva.
ElsaMarie D’Silva (she/her) is the Founder of Red Dot Foundation (India) and President of Red Dot Foundation Global (USA). She created Safecity, a technology platform crowdsourcing personal experiences of sexual violence globally, which is now the largest crowd map on this issue in India. ElsaMarie co-founded the Brave Movement to end childhood sexual abuse and Beyond Black, a social enterprise leveraging art for good. She has been recognised by the UN, German Federal Foreign Office, and the Government of India for her work.
Part 2 of ElsaMarie’s interview will be published 3 March, 2025.
All photos are courtesy of RedDot Foundation.
- How and why did you join the movement to end violence against women (VAW)?
As a survivor myself, I knew firsthand how difficult it is to break the silence. I witnessed and experienced multiple forms of sexual and gender-based violence but, like many others, remained silent due to fear and societal stigma.
The brutal gang rape of Jyoti Singh in December 2012 was a turning point. It ignited a nationwide outcry and made me realise that we needed more than outrage—we needed action. Ten days later, with the support of friends, I co-founded Safecity, an anonymous platform for reporting sexual and gender-based violence. By crowdsourcing stories, we aimed to make the invisible visible, push for systemic change, and create safer public spaces for women and girls.
My journey into this movement was deeply personal, but it has since evolved into a global mission to empower survivors, engage communities, and advocate for a world free from violence.
2. How did you and your friends come up with the idea of Safecity as your response to the Delhi gang rape atrocity?
In 2012, I was part of the Swedish Institute Management Program (SIMP), which focused on CSR and sustainability in business. At the time, I was working in aviation as Vice President of Network Planning for Kingfisher Airlines. As part of SIMP, we were required to implement a project within our companies, but midway through the programme, Kingfisher ceased operations. Still eager to create an impact, I initially explored a project to help women advance in their careers.
During our final SIMP module in early December, someone introduced us to HarassMap Egypt, a platform mapping incidents of sexual harassment. While I found the idea innovative, I didn’t consider it urgent for India… until Jyoti Singh’s brutal gang rape just days later. The national outrage and conversations about women’s safety made it clear that we needed a tool like HarassMap in India. Ten days later, my friends and I launched Safecity.
3. What are some of the particular challenges that the Safecity platform has faced and continues to face when tackling VAW in India as well as globally?
Safecity has faced several challenges in tackling VAW in India and globally. The biggest hurdle is breaking the silence—many survivors fear speaking up due to stigma, societal taboos, and victim-blaming. There is also deep mistrust in the police and justice system, preventing survivors from formally reporting incidents.
Initially, I had no background in the social sector, so I had to unlearn, relearn, and acquire new skills—from understanding gender-based violence to running an organisation. Fundraising was another major challenge, as many donors hesitate to support issues related to sexual violence.
Globally, adapting Safecity’s model to different cultural, legal, and digital landscapes requires constant innovation. Governments and institutions often resist data-driven accountability, making systemic change slow. Despite these challenges, Safecity continues to grow, using data to push for safer spaces, advocate for policy change, and empower communities to take action.
4. Safecity provides data dashboards from all over India that can be filtered to search for reports based on year, country, state, and month. These dashboards provide analyses of the data collected through the Safecity app on cases of sexual violence. Given the massive size of the database and the sheer number of reports coming in, could you tell us about the particular challenges of scaling up and maintaining Safecity while ensuring that the collected data makes a positive impact in the battle to end VAW?
Scaling and maintaining Safecity while ensuring meaningful impact presents several challenges. One key concern is data quality and verification—since reports are anonymous, we carefully filter out false or duplicate submissions while ensuring survivor anonymity. Every report is reviewed by a human before approval, maintaining the integrity of our data. Technical scalability is another hurdle; managing large datasets, ensuring security, and sustaining cloud infrastructure requires continuous investment. Our platform is designed with privacy and safety at its core, creating a secure space for users.
To translate data into impact, we collaborate with law enforcement, city planners, and communities to drive action. Cultural differences in reporting sexual violence also require us to adapt Safecity’s model across regions.
Sustaining Safecity financially remains a challenge, as funding for tech-driven VAW solutions is limited. Building strategic partnerships is key. Despite these obstacles, our data-driven approach has influenced urban planning, police interventions, and policy decisions, making cities safer for women and girls.
5. After you began working on the Safecity app, you decided to start the Red Dot Foundation (Red Dot) because you recognised that “lasting impact requires a multifaceted approach.” Since then, Red Dot has expanded into other ways of tackling VAW. Could you give us an overview of the services, programmes, and initiatives that Red Dot runs to tackle VAW in India?
Red Dot Foundation employs a multifaceted approach to tackling VAW in India. Beyond Safecity, we focus on education and awareness in schools, colleges, communities, and corporations, covering sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), bystander intervention, and legal rights.
We partner with institutions to create safe spaces and implement inclusive policies that address gender-based violence. Our advocacy for urban planning ensures that city infrastructure and public spaces are designed with women’s safety in mind. Through legal aid clinics, we provide survivors with access to justice and support services.
Our thought leadership extends to policy implementation, working with law enforcement, government bodies, and international organisations to influence systemic change. The Youth Safety Champions programme empowers young leaders to drive community safety initiatives. By integrating technology, education, advocacy, and policy engagement, Red Dot Foundation is fostering safer environments and long-term change.
