ElsaMarie D’Silva

“If you are passionate about a cause do not be afraid to speak up and use whatever skill or resource you have to do something about it. I made a choice to consciously work on the issue of sexual violence. Now I have a bold goal: to end violence against women in my lifetime. I aim to reach 1 million youth by 2030. I want to empower them to break the cycle of violence and be the agents of change.”

Elsa D’Silva sees incredible power in information. She co-founded Safecity, a platform that crowdsources and maps sexual violence and harassment in India. She believes that making abuse visible will disrupt the culture of silence and impunity around sexual violence.

Since Safecity launched, it’s become the largest crowdmap on sexual abuse in India. Elsa has even collaborated with fellow Vital Voices network members to bring Safecity to Nepal, Cameroon and Kenya – making it the largest crowdmap in those countries too. She aims to reach 1 million young people with Safecity trainings about sexual violence – empowering youth to break the cycle and end gender-based violence.