Post Status:
Main Project Location: Stellenbosch
Project country/countries: South Africa
Project dates: 2016 –
Last updated: 23 March 2022

Brief overview of the Case Study   

Namola is a free crime response app that allows users to share their GPS coordinates, name, and nature of the emergency with a 24/7 response call centre. For legitimate alerts, police, other emergency responses, and citizen responders are then dispatched and monitored.

The challenge or problem

With the increasing crimes such as femicide, gender-based violence and kidnapping in South Africa, this often means conventional responding services as police are overburdened or cannot immediately respond to such crimes.

The solution that was implemented

Requesting help using the Namola app, the app using a phone’s GPS location is able to inform nearby responders who the victim is and where they are. When requesting assistance through the app, the Namola team immediately sends the request to a local law enforcement and participates in safety initiatives in that particular community so that they can come to the victim’s assistance as quickly as possible.

What technology was used?

What results were achieved?

First launched in 2015 in Tshwane, Namola was initially launched as “Uber for police '', designed by Happimo, a non-profit organisation. The app was introduced to give victims of crime access to a new, innovative way of contacting the police. Three days after its launch, it had almost 100,000 registered users' ' says Chief Ambassador for Namola, Yusuf Abramjee
"Namola is a smart complement to 10111 [emergency services]. The app aims to improve efficiencies and alleviate pressures placed on 10111 centres by pre-screening alerts. Your call will always be answered, and the information will be passed on to the nearest police station"Namola is a smart complement to 10111 [emergency services]. The app aims to improve efficiencies and alleviate pressures placed on 10111 centres by pre-screening alerts. Your call will always be answered, and the information will be passed on to the nearest police station”, adds Abramjee
Namola has partnered with several police stations across the country, including the capital city, City of Tshwane.

Lessons and recommendations

The app was initially piloted under a different model in 2015, the current model used now is the result of the team updating their approach based on what has worked.

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