Victims of domestic violence — you are not alone!
By: We Encourage
Tags: Domestic Violence, Intimate Partner Violence, Domestic Abuse, Intimate Partner Abuse

Victims of domestic violence — you are not alone!

#takeaction podcast with Hera Hussain, the founder of CHAYN. An award-winning, open-source project run by 400 volunteers from 15 countries. Their resources are openly licensed so charities around the world can use, remix and distribute our work! Chayn’s design principle: Design with, not for. We Encourage Nov 23, 2020·3 min read

Hera Hussain is the Founder of CHAYN — a global volunteer-run project crowdsourcing resources on the web to address gender-based violence. Chayn has reached more than 360 000 people through its resources which are designed with survivors of abuse.

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Who is Hera Hussain?

Born in Scotland, raised in Pakistan and now living in the UK, Hera knew from early on she wanted to empower women. Hera is a passionate believer in using the power of open source technology and open data to solve the world’s pressing issues. Hera was on the Forbes 30 Under 30 and MIT Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35 list.

Hera came to UK for university and tried to think about several kinds of social enterprise ideas in ethical fashion, which would support women facing abuse with employment and training. Over time, she started working in the technology startup space. Chayn happened by chance. She helped two friends escape abusive marriages and experienced significant challenges in finding basic information like their rights and how to cope with trauma. She thought if she could just put together critical information in easy language online, it could change lives and solve real problems.

What is Chayn?

CHAYN is a global volunteer network addressing gender-based violence by creating intersectional survivor-led resources online. Chayn started in 2013, and have since reached more than 300 000 people and 1.2 million views across the world.

Chayn is an open-source project crowdsourced by hundreds of volunteers to support victims of domestic violence, by collecting relevant information and resources to Chayn platoform for easy access for the victims. As we have learned here at We Encourage, there are plenty of information available, but it is scattered and it is hard for the victims of violence to find right kind of information for their needs. Also, for many victims of violence, the time and energy goes to suriving day to day and it is difficult to find the time and energy needed for browsing through the internet for relevant information.

At Chayn platform victims of domestic violence can find:

Open and free resources crowdsourced with love

from survivors, experts & people

who give a damn around the world.

Toolkits & how to guides Country sites & platforms to support women Digital services

Bloom — remote trauma support

Bloom is a free, web-based support service run by Chayn. Designed for anyone who is currently experiencing or has experienced domestic and sexual abuse, support is offered via 5 courses. Each one offers tailored tips, tricks, tools, and comforting words to our community. Working through a course will involve learning, reflecting, and processing how what we’ve experienced has affected us — in a safe and empowering space. All of the courses are delivered anonymously, within a group setting, and alongside other survivors via Telegram and WhatsApp.

If you are interested in volunteering in Chayn, please contact them. The Chayn project is aiming to offer support and help for people all over the world, so don’t hesitate to contact, if you can support them to bring it to your country.