Asteria

Our app is oriented around community’s support for those affected by domestic violence and those from Ukraine who were affected by the war.

The problem we are trying to solve is domestic violence and we chose this alarming issue, because it affects so many women and members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Domestic violence is a serious and critical problem, in the EU it is estimated that 1 in 3 women (or 61  million out of 185  million) have experienced physical or sexual violence, or both, since the age of 15. After doing some research, we found concerning information established by The European Institute for Gender Equality showing that in Romania, 30 % of women have experienced violence, which is about the same as in the EU overall and only 23 % reported the most serious incident to the police; 8 % of women have been stalked; 32 % of women have experienced sexual harassment and from 2010 to 2012, an estimated 5.4 per 100 000 people in Romania were registered as victims of human trafficking.  Even though domestic violence is a major problem in our country, it is still not talked about enough and there are just a few solutions to it. 

One of the reasons why domestic abuse is such a big issue in Romania is the fact that most people are not well-informed regarding this topic, they do not realize whether they are in an abusive situation and if they do, they do not know the juridical procedures needed in order to escape that situation. Also, during the pandemic, a considerable number of victims were forced to live with their abuser, resulting in the increase in the number of beatings and killings.  

Domestic violence has a negative impact on children's access to education, as they often feel stigmatized and they are unable to overcome their trauma in order to go to school.

Asteria offers:

-Resources from a wide range of fields for victims: therapy, social housing, jobs, legal information, health, education

-Social shelters and psychological counseling for ukrainians provided by the community

-A chance for people with financial possibilities to make a real difference in the community by helping those who are less fortunate.

The purpose of our app is to bring together people who are eager to help in order to create a safer and more inclusive community. Our application consists of numerous functions and helpful information for victims about domestic violence, such as: how do you know when it is abuse, what to do/ how to protect yourself, centers where you can ask for help, etc. Moreover, our resources come from trustworthy sources, therefore people can be correctly informed about domestic violence and its forms.

Moreover, the app will provide a map with the closest shelters from their county (we will use the GPS sensor, if the user consents) and they can have real-time conversations with people who want to help. Asteria will have access to alerting contacts in case of an extreme situation, by shaking the phone (we will use the accelerometer sensor). 

Asteria’s interface is simple and accessible in order for the user of any age to use the app efficiently. There are three types of accounts: I need help, I am from Ukraine, I want to help and each person registers themselves accordingly. 

The target population our app is directed to is represented by victims of domestic abuse from Romania and Ukrainian refugees. 

At the moment, in Romania, domestic violence is an issue that does not receive enough attention from the authorities. Therefore, the domestic violence victims do not have the necessary resources to escape the abuse situation.

Our main goal is to help people realize whether they are in an abusive situation and if so, we aim to help them experience a life away from fear, by offering them available therapists, social shelters, jobs, legal help in their area. With the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the considerable number of Ukrainians who are entering Romania everyday, Asteria wants to provide them with the necessary resources and information regarding refugee camps from our country. Although there are apps on the market with a similar target, our app provides numerous unique features which will bring the possible victims closer to the community they are a part of. In comparison to our rivals, we have a user-friendly interface with easily understandable options, suitable for both adults and children. 

We also believe that our app could make our community stronger and more united given the fact that people are encouraged to search for resources and share them so that people in need could have access to them.

All four members of our team are volunteers in local NGOs where we have been coordinating informative campaigns to raise awareness about the alarming situation of domestic violence in Romania. We are also the founding members of the first feminist movie club in our county where we discuss with other people from our community about domestic violence, reproductive rights and bodily autonomy. We have also seen around us and in our families the effects of this issue and how the stigma around the subject makes it even harder to fight against it.

As a starting point, we created a survey in order to find out what people not only from Romania but also from other European countries think about domestic violence. Our survey was shared in almost every county in Romania and other countries, such as The Netherlands, Poland, Italy, gathering up to this point 410 answers. Based on their responses, 91,7% would trust our application and use it and 96,3% consider that an app like ours would be useful to those in abusive situations by providing community’s help.

The leader of our team was a volunteer at a local NGO that helps children who escaped situations of abuse in order to better understand their needs.

During our discussion with Lieutenant Colonel Manuela Elena Bercea, who is the Head of The Gender Issue Office from the Ministry of National Defense, we came to the conclusion that a section where the users could upload messages, pictures, recordings that could serve as proof in court.

After a close research on our rivals, there is only one main competitor on the Romanian market, an app that provides resources and help on the same topic as ours. Even though domestic violence is a major problem in our country, it is still not talked about enough and there are just a few solutions to it, thus creating an opportunistic environment to launch our application. Moreover, we will improve our functions and make the app a safe space for those in need, providing all the facilities victims might need. Although having competition, it does not represent a major problem, since our strong-will will help us overcome any obstacles, alongside dedication and motivation that will bring the best out of our application.

Also, our app helps victims to build their life after they escape the situation of abuse. Victims can have access to less known centers since we are willing to work with volunteers from all over the country. 

In the first year, we intend to reach as many victims as possible and to create a network of people who are willing to help our cause. We had a conversation with Lieutenant Colonel Manuela Elena Bercea, who is the Head of The Gender Issue Office from the Ministry of National Defense who further connected us to the Head of ANES, which is the main organisation in charge of abusive situations in Romania. Therefore, our app will more easily reach those who are looking for help. In addition, we plan to collaborate with social shelters and other non-profit organisations (FILIA Centre, “Casa Ioana”Association etc.) from Romania which advocate for the cause of domestic abuse and they help the victims. In this way, they can provide us with an informed database of those who could benefit off of our app.

Asteria is a mobile application, currently available for Android, combining software and sensor technology in order to maximize its positive impact. We w use the GPS sensor to locate the user in case of an emergency when they need urgent help and they can have real-time conversations with people who want to help. Asteria use the accelerometer sensor, which enables the user to shake their phone and the app with instantly call a reliable contact person that the user have previously entered. The application was written using MIT App Inventor, for storing user information we used Firebase, for storing the contact person’s number we used TinyDB provided by MIT App Inventor and for storing messages in the chat section we used CloudDB.

Our app is not launched yet, but we expect to serve around 100 people in the first year, given the fact that our marketing campaign will be limited, due to victims’ privacy reasons and therefore, our app will reach users only through reliable organisations and people that know them. 

The biggest threat that could limit our impact is the access to funds and resources to help our users. Considering that in Romania it is pretty difficult to find any piece of information regarding this topic online we have to be very careful about the resources we share on our app.

At the moment, we are not partnering with any organization but during the process of developing our app we discussed with lawyers and specialists in gender justice from ANES; and, with the help of The Head of The Gender Issue Office from the Ministry of National Defense, we are trying to create a partnership with Romania's government.

The product we offer our users is represented by a mobile app that uses the community's support to help victims of domestic violence. 

Asteria is a non-profit organization.

Pricing & distributions: 

On the grounds that we are a non-profit organization, we chose not to include advertisements and different types of taxes in the app. Consequently, the biggest part of the earned money will be from donations. 

App’s distribution: The price for distributing the app on Playstore is 99$ per year.

Employment:

In the second year, we plan to hire a legal consultant and a part-time accountant (2-3 hours per day) will be needed in order to help us with the financial management. We will also hire a designer to create an attractive logo and to work on the design of our app, so Asteria will remain relevant to the public

* The term “donations” refers to money donated by people through our app. Users will be able to mention whether they want their money going to the victims or to help us grow our app.

* All of the money left will be further used to help the victims. (e.g: housing costs, food, tr

Startup Capital: Considering the fact that we are a nonprofit organization, our initial funding will consist of our own savings. We also intend to contact companies willing to support the cause and other bigger organizations that could help us grow our app. In addition, in Romania there is a law that allows the citizens to redirect 3,5% of the income tax, thus giving us the opportunity to help our users and to increase the quality of our app.

Operating costs

Since we think we can use the money for offering support to the victims, we wish to keep our operating cost as low as possible at the moment. However, we are open to the idea of purchasing subscriptions for database programs( such as Cisco or Oracle) which have a more increased security (given the fact that now we are using a public one: Firebase).