Yafe App

Yafe Mobile app is to combat hate speech, educate community leaders and build community cohesion 

Dangerous speech and fake news are increasingly being attributed as major influencers of violent conflict in Nigeria. To find innovative solutions, Mercy Corps held a HateSpeech Hackathon in November 2018 to find innovative solutions to dangerous speech in Nigeria. The winning idea was Yafe,(meaning forgiveness in Hausa), a mobile app which will educate users on how to identify dangerous speech, allow them to report it, and to create a digital community of practice to support mediation and education efforts on the ground. Mercy Corps will be piloting this app from August through October 2019. In order to be scaled the Yafe mobile app will require new features to be added, refining of the AI tools and ui/ux as our reach continues to grow.  

In Nigeria, dangerous speech is increasingly prevalent and problematic in key areas, not to mention, during contentious political events. Dangerous speech is a persistent problem online, where social media and viral engagement, increases the spread and produces real world consequences.

Dangerous speech and fake news is increasingly being attributed as a major influencer of violent conflict in Barkin Ladi Plateau state Nigeria. Circles of violent attacks, reprisals and counter reprisals also took a horrific toll within the second half of 2018 on the people of Barkin Ladi. The story of 83-year old Imam Abdullahi Abubakar, who reportedly rescued about 300 Christians by hiding them in his house and the local mosque, on 24 June 2018, from alleged Muslim faithfuls (said to be also operating based unconfirmed reports) is still widely reference today as one of few bright examples of putting community first over religion. 

The Yafe mobile app will be incorporated into an ongoing peacebuilding and conflict prevention program called TARE (meaning “together” in Hausa). It is being implemented in three Northern Nigerian states: Borno, Kaduna and Plateau. Mercy Corps selected these states based on the level of identity-based conflicts. In each of these states, TARE works in partnership with male and female religious leaders, primarily focusing on engaging Christian and Islamic religious leaders, to develop and implement Community Action Plans to Prevent Violent Extremism (PVE) and promote harmonious relations, in cooperation with community leaders, civil society, youth, women and local state government officials. TARE also work with faith-based organizations and religious institutions to enhance their capacity to mediate and resolve local disputes. We also support community level efforts to refute stereotypes and prejudices and foster peaceful coexistence. 

The App will support local leaders to play a more proactive role to jointly address potential conflict issues before they turn violent. It will also serve as a reference point for locals to also advocate for improved security in their areas from their governments. Timely information from the app, will also support program planning and implementation for development actors also working in these states, through information sharing platforms like the peace and security and humanitarian coordination platforms

We believe an important step in combating toxic speech online is to use emerging technologies, try new ideas, and to build an app that allows for reporting, education and community dialogue. 

The app is unique in that we will be testing 1-2 different AI based, open source algorithms to capture data, interpret data, and train the app to look for hate speech data. We are using a combination of free tools from Google and coupling those with Twitter for social media, and providing community leaders a way to engage each other, discuss ideas together, and collaborate together to create outcomes.

The uniqueness is in coupling a mobile app, social media, AI tools, and working with community leaders to pilot, test, and pivot our ideas for the benefit of community solidarity.

The core framework is based on Google’s mobile app Flutter.io framework. We are using Google analytics for metrics measurement, and Google’s Firebase server. There are 3 areas or 3 tabs that users can select on loading the app. There is an account/home tab, a community tab, and a Twitter feed tab integrated.

For our social media component, we chose Twitter. Other social media tools may eventually be added based on our program’s pilot testing and findings. 

Additionally, we are testing the use of 1-2 different open source AI bots for detecting toxic speech,and keep track of this toxic language, as well as allowing users to take action by reporting the toxic speech via Twitter, and sharing their findings within a community tab or blog like environment build for information sharing.

We believe that complex problems require creative products and ideas, to help move the needle in the right direction. There is not one solution, but our hope is that through the use of AI and pilot programming, our approach will improve community engagement, information dissemination, and education.

We are expecting that users will learn how to better identify hate speech, increasing their ability to respond and in turn, educate their communities. Additionally, the app will create a digital community of practice of community leaders engaging with hate speech they see on social media and reporting hate speech that they see in their own communities. 

Finally, through this interaction and engagement with the app and the improved recognition of hate speech, we expect that users are more able to reduce tensions and curb violent incidents in their community. 

We will start our pilot program with 25 admin users. After 6 months to a year, we will open the app up with an openly distributed version for the app stores, github, etc. 

In five years, this app will evolve to assist in dangerous speech in other countries, and will evolve for the functionality that users request/need.

Mercy Corps is well positioned to leverage our experience, high level of community recognition and trust, and robust relationships with key local actors, to deliver rigorously researched, and adaptable programs that address the root causes of conflict in the Middle-Belt and Northeast, and other areas experiencing conflict. Across our country portfolio, we will foster an enabling environment for peace by promoting good governance and inclusive economic growth, while meeting urgent humanitarian needs with conflict-sensitivity. This holistic approach will enable us to build resilience to the impact of conflict in Nigeria by increasing people’s ability to not only cope with the shocks and stresses of conflict and complex crisis, but to transform the underlying causal dynamics.

Platforms for community leaders to advocate for improved security are still far from the desired. Local capacities to engage with state and national-level government and security actors need to be strengthened. The voices of women and youth in dispute resolution and peacebuilding processes are often neglected in Northern Nigeria, more visibly in the local areas directly impacted by the conflicts. Root causes of the conflicts around grievances arising from a lack of economic and social opportunities (particularly for youth) has become a common phenomenon. Also, coordination efforts between communities and security agencies continues to face challenges due to lack of trust and mutual suspicion.

We are a team of less than 10 people, with 1 person being a consultant software developer.

Mercy Corps has deep relationships within the community, and knowledge in how to execute programming in Nigeria, where the app pilot will be tested with community elders. We are growing our technology investments and hope to engage our partners, such as Google, and Twitter, to help us scale our technologies and deliver results that create value in people’s lives.

We have not partnered with public or private companies yet. Twitter representation was present at the Hackathon and there might be future engagement with social media partners or media organizations.We have not partnered with public or private companies yet. Twitter representation was present at the Hackathon and there might be future engagement with social media partners or media organizations.

Mercy Corps is an international development organization that helps people around the world survive and thrive after conflict, crisis and natural disaster. The organization assists in alleviation of suffering, poverty, and oppression by helping people build secure, productive, and just communities. Its services include emergency relief, agriculture and economic development, housing and infrastructure as well as nonviolent conflict management. In addition, Mercy Corps offers financial assistance through donations and planned giving programs.

They have provided $3.7 billion in lifesaving assistance throughout the world. Each year they infuse millions of dollars into local economies through small business loans and grants to provide livelihoods for the world’s most vulnerable people. They are empowering more than 100,000 youth trapped by violent conflict to overcome the profound stress of war and become change makers in their communities.

We would expand our use of AI tool development to better identify dangerous speech, and to more effectively measure findings.