In 2020, the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and Quilt.AI formed a partnership and have spent the last several months researching online violence in India (here’s what we learned). With the onset of COVID-19, there has been an uptick in both online and offline violence. We took a more in-depth look specifically at online violence and behavior and compared what that looked like before and during the pandemic in India. 

We recently sat down with the President of ICRW, Dr. Sarah Degnan Kambou and the CEO and co-founder of Quilt AI, Anurag Banerjee, to talk about how the partnership began. We also spoke with ICRW’s Senior Social and Behavioral Scientist, Dr. Laura Hinson; Quilt AI’s Senior Impact Director, Dr. Priyanka (Piya) Bhalla; and Quilt AI’s Program and Content Manager, Biva Rajbhandari, who have been working together on the project, digging deeper into online behaviors – specifically how people search for and post content about online violence in India.

Thank you all for joining us today. We’re looking forward to talking about the work your organizations have been doing together. But first, Sarah and Anurag, how did you two meet? And what was it about each other’s organizations that lent themselves to a partnership?

SARAH: Two years ago, Dr. Ravi Verma, ICRW’s Asia Director, and I attended a meeting in Jaipur focusing on creating positive social change among youth attending public middle schools. The Rajasthan State Government invited several organizations working on innovative approaches promoting gender equity to present at the meeting. It was my first exposure to Quilt.AI, a partner with ICRW on the Boys Stand Up Project. The presentation of the digital data was riveting, and the data themselves compelling. I dashed off an email to introduce myself to Anurag, and the rest is history.  

Credit: David Snyder, ICRW.

ANURAG: We were thrilled to be working with ICRW on Boys Stand Up, which is a project focused on engaging boys in family planning in India. At Quilt.AI, we have worked extensively on studying gender equality and misogyny online. ICRW brought the same passion and experience to the issue with a rigorous research approach that I admired. We thought combining our expertise could pull up some interesting findings.

And why are partnerships like this one so important to you? What is the added value?

ANURAG: As more people access the Internet – especially girls – it is important to understand how we can create a safe online environment for them. To unleash the Internet for good can make powerful changes – from ensuring people are finding the right information on vaccines to services during a crisis.