The SJIP innovations
Facilitated by HiiL, Justice Innovation Labs take a systemic, collaborative, and experimental approach to justice. The process includes combining evidence-based and stakeholder-driven approaches. Under SJIP, two innovation labs and seventeen small scale initiatives have contributed to reducing violence against women and facilitating access to personal documentations for Syrians.
Some examples of successes and promising gamechangers of this innovation process:
Reducing violence against women
Al Hakawati
The Hakawati initiative aims at empowering women and highlighting their role in society through a series of online graphical episodes performed by the traditional character of the “Hakawati” (storyteller) who uses simple and appealing language adapted to the audience. To date, the various episodes have reached more than 85,000 viewers.
Yasmina Bot
To further support women facing violence, a chatbot was developed through SJIP. The chatbot, Yasmina, was launched in February 2021, and in its first month online has reached over 850 women. This Arabic chatbot provides adaptive legal advice to Syrian women survivors of domestic violence and other forms of human rights violations. It also provides such women with the capacity to remain completely anonymous while also listing specialized entities able to offer in person support.
Jasmine Survivors
Syrian women in Jordan, who have faced abuse or are facing abuse are economically empowered. These women will become financially independent, improving their well-being and being able to support themselves and their families. This is being done through an intensive online training in operational, technical and financial skills. Following the training, the women produce their own products to be sold online. This is also accompanied by an online campaign focused on digital storytelling, where the Syrian women share their personal stories and raise awareness about gender based violence, and connect with the public.
Warm home board game
Child marriages are a daily problem facing a large number of Syrian girls, especially Syrian girls in Turkey. To address this issue, a board game specifically developed through the Justice Innovation Lab on reducing violence against women, focuses on raising awareness of child marriages and enabling dialogue within Syrian families. The board game is currently being distributed and has a unique distribution method by attaching it to the Syrian bread bag. Syrian bread is bought on a daily basis by Syrians and this way the board game will have entered many homes of Syrian families. This is done in cooperation with Syrian bakeries and supermarkets both in Turkey and Syria.
Safe access to personal documentation
Mobile Legal Clinics
Since the Syrian crisis, many Syrians have lost or have no access to their personal documents. Children born in the last ten years do not have a legal identity or family status. These children can not prove that their parents are their actual biological legal parents and can not have access to education or healthcare. In an effort to prevent statelessness and legalise the status of stateless persons, a mobile legal clinic was established. This mobile clinic is helping many families in accessing their personal documents and regaining their legal identity in Northern Syria and in refugee camps in Lebanon.
SyrGo
The number of Syrians without access to personal documents is huge. SyrGo is another online service designed to address this issue. It is the first online marketplace that helps Syrians around the world to receive their personal and legal documents, by connecting them to trusted lawyers. This includes birth certificates, marriage certificates, and proof of education.
Syrian documents guide
The number of Syrians who do not have access to their personal documents is huge. This leads to many daily challenges such as not being able to access healthcare, not being able to register their new born children or not being able to inherit property. A specially developed user-friendly mobile app guides Syrians in obtaining their personal documents. This app also spreads awareness on the importance of registration and why it is important to have personal documents. The app provides Syrians with step by step practical guidance to fulfil in order to obtain the personal documents. The user enters this app, chooses the document that he/she needs and the app identifies the papers necessary to be extracted and the specific department that he/she has to visit, be it in Syria or in Turkey.
