Easy Rescue Application won the Silver Prize of Stevie

Working to be the pioneer of social change and development, Vodafone Turkey Foundation, with the support of the Ministry of Family, Labour, and Social Services, launched the "Easy Rescue" application seven years ago to aid the protection of women against violence. Today, this application has achieved another global success. The application, which allows women to swiftly reach the police or their relatives in a moment of violence, has been granted the Silver Stevie in the category of "Innovation Award in Social Practice" at the Middle East and North Africa Stevie® Awards , which was held for the second time this year. Until today, Easy Rescue has been downloaded 358,000 times, reaching 2,500 monthly active users. The 2021 Middle East & North Africa Stevie® Awards winners will be honored during a virtual award ceremony on 2 June.

While evaluating the award, Mr. Hasan Süel, the Chair of Vodafone Turkey Foundation, stated:

"Violence against women is a crucial global issue. The World Bank describes violence against women as a global epidemic that affects one out of every three women in their lifetime. We believe that using technology can be highly effective in combating violence against women, which is a severe violation of human rights and a major social issue. With this vision, we developed the 'Easy Rescue' application, which allows women to swiftly reach the police or their relatives in a moment of violence. Until today, our application has reached 358,000 women. 'Easy Rescue' gained more significance with the increased domestic violence during the pandemic. We have added new features to our app to reach even more women. We are happy that our app earned a Silver Stevie at the Middle East & North Africa Stevie® Awards, one of the world's leading award programs. As Vodafone Turkey Foundation, we will continue to combat violence against women."

Emergency numbers are just one click away

The "Easy Rescue" application allows you to register three individuals to be reached in an emergency with a single click. The Shake-Alert feature sends messages and location information to the registered persons as "Emergency SMS" by shaking the phone. The application also enables a single-click call to the emergency numbers of Alo 183, 155 Police Emergency, and 156 Gendarmerie and Domestic Violence Emergency Helpline. Moreover, the application displays the addresses and telephone numbers of the nearest Centers for Prevention and Monitoring Violence, operating under the Ministry of Family, Labour, and Social Services, via the map. Users can also access information regarding what to do when exposed to violence. The application's "My Companion" feature allows users to share their location information with others and let them see and track their real-time location during a journey or in a situation where they feel unsafe. Also, the application sends an SMS notification to its followers if a user is off the route.

Introducing new features

During the pandemic, the VoiceOver accessibility option for iOS users and the TalkBack accessibility option for Android users have been added to all functions of the "Easy Rescue" application. This new add-on allows reading an item selected by touch and provides voice feedback to visually impaired women. Moreover, the Arabic language option activated in the application helps refugee women benefit from the application. The "Easy Rescue" also helps women with informative texts that grow awareness regarding the types of violence and demonstrate what women can do when exposed to violence during the pandemic.

Over 400 applications from 17 countries

As part of the Stevie® Awards, among the most respected business awards worldwide, the Middle East & North Africa Stevie® Awards is the only program that recognizes companies and organizations across 17 nations in the region for their innovative achievements in the workplace throughout the year. The Middle East & North Africa Stevie Awards, which was held second time under Ras Al Khaimah Chamber of Commerce and Industry sponsorship, received over 400 applications. The applications were evaluated in various categories such as "Excellence in Product and Service Innovation Award", "Innovative Management Award", and "Innovation Award in Corporate Websites". The Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners were selected based on the average scores of over 60 executives in 6 juries.