UNiTE to End Digital Violence Against All Women & Girls
70% of women have faced online violence, but reporting it is hard. Most safety apps require a download—leaving a digital trace that abusers can find. Survivors need protection that is invisible, immediate, and legally robust.
Imara is a Digital Bodyguard that lives inside the apps African women already use.
- No App Download: Works entirely via Telegram (and Web PWA).
- Invisible: Users interact with a bot that looks like a generic news service.
- Forensic Grade: Converts screenshots and voice notes into SHA-256 hashed evidence admissible in court.
-
Multi-Modal Intelligence:
- Voice Transcription: Users can forward Voice Notes (from WhatsApp/Telegram) directly to the bot. We use Groq Whisper to instantly transcribe dialects and detect hidden threats in audio.
- Visual Analysis: Uses Gemini 2.5 Flash to OCR screenshots and detect doxing/harassment in images.
- Text Reasoning: Uses Llama-3-70b for context-aware safety planning.
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Smart Conversational Safety:
- Session Context: Remembers last 10 messages for coherent conversation flow
- Localized Language Detection: Responds in user's language (English, Pidgin, Swahili)
- Safe Word Protection: Type "STOP", "HELP ME", or "EMERGENCY" to halt any active operation
- ASK_LOCATION: When a threat is severe but location unknown, the bot asks for it before reporting
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Automatic Triage & Dispatch:
- Risk Scoring: AI rates threats 1-10.
- Auto-Escalation: Risk scores >7 automatically notify the appropriate verified support partner organization for the user’s jurisdiction.
- Feedback Collection: Users rate advice helpfulness (thumbs up/down) to improve the system
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Real-World Network:
- Database pre-seeded with 19+ verified helplines across Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Ghana.
We have tested the system end-to-end. Below are screenshots from our live deployment showing inputs from Voice, Web, and Text.
The survivor reports via Telegram (Voice/Text/Image) or our Camouflaged Web Portal.
| Telegram (Image Analysis) | Web Portal (Voice Transcription) |
|---|---|
 |
 |
| Bot receives forwarded screenshot, transcribes it, and detects blackmail. | Web AI analyzes uploaded data and warns the user. |
The system automatically logs incidents, hashes evidence for legal validity, and routes them to partners.
| Incident Reports Log | Partner Directory |
|---|---|
 |
 |
| Real-time tracking of cases (Voice, Image, Text from Web, Telegram) with Risk Scores. | 19+ Pre-seeded helplines across Africa. |
High-risk threats trigger immediate email dispatch to the relevant partner organization.
| Dispatch System | Email Confirmation |
|---|---|
 |
 |
| System logs the forensic alert dispatch (to the assigned partner). | Web user is alerted via provided email. |
We built a production-grade safety ecosystem using 100% free tiers of enterprise tools.
| Component | Technology | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Backend | Django 5.0 (Python) | The "Brain" orchestrating logic & security. |
| Audio Engine | Groq Whisper | Core Feature: Instant transcription of voice notes/audio evidence. |
| Reasoning | Groq (Llama-3.3) | Instant (<0.5s) text threat analysis. |
| Vision | Gemini 2.5 Flash | OCR and image threat detection. |
| Database | SQLite (WAL Mode) | Optimized for low-memory 1GB environments. |
| Storage | Cloudflare R2 (S3) | Secure, forensic-ready evidence storage. |
| Dispatch | Brevo API | Transactional emails to partner organizations. |
We are expanding the Zero-UI concept to the 6 most common platforms used by women in Africa:
| Platform | Status | Feature |
|---|---|---|
| 🚧 In Progress | Integration via Twilio Sandbox | |
| ✅ Integrated (Webhook) | DM Threat Monitoring | |
| ✅ Integrated (Webhook) | Messenger Safety Bot | |
| X (Twitter) | ⏳ Planned | Public Harassment Flagging |
| TikTok | ⏳ Planned | Video Comment Analysis |
| Snapchat | ⏳ Planned | Ephemeral Evidence Capture |
Imara is a flagship project of Kiri Research Labs, built by a diverse team committed to the "Survivor Support" and "Transforming Masculinities" themes.
- Onyeka Nwokike: Technical Architecture and Security.
- Betsy Makamu: Partnerships and External Communications.
- Whitney Wairimu: Product Roadmap and User Experience.
Building from Nigeria & Kenya 🇳🇬 🇰🇪
/
├── imara/ # Django project settings
│ ├── settings.py
│ ├── urls.py
│ └── wsgi.py
├── cases/ # Incident reports and evidence models
│ ├── models.py # IncidentReport, EvidenceAsset
│ └── admin.py
├── partners/ # Partner organizations + portal
│ ├── models.py # PartnerOrganization, PartnerUser, PartnerInvite
├── dispatch/ # Email dispatch service
│ ├── models.py # DispatchLog
│ └── service.py # BrevoDispatcher
├── triage/ # AI analysis engine
│ ├── clients/
│ │ ├── groq_client.py
│ │ └── gemini_client.py
│ └── decision_engine.py
├── intake/ # Web and Telegram interfaces
│ ├── views.py # HomeView, ReportFormView, TelegramWebhookView
│ ├── services.py # ReportProcessor
│ └── forms.py
├── templates/ # HTML templates
│ ├── base.html
│ └── intake/
│ ├── index.html
│ ├── report_form.html
│ └── result.html
├── static/ # Static assets
└── test/ # Test Screenshots
| Endpoint | Method | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| / | GET | Landing page |
| /report/ | GET/POST | Report form |
| /result/ | GET | Analysis results |
| /offline/ | GET | PWA offline page |
| /webhook/telegram/ | POST | Telegram webhook |
| /webhook/meta/ | POST | Meta (Messenger/Instagram) webhook |
| /health/ | GET | Health check |
| /ping/ | GET | Keep-alive endpoint |
| /admin/ | GET | Django admin |
/start- Welcome message/help- Usage instructions/status- Bot status check
# 1. Clone
git clone https://github.com/nwokike/imara.git
# 2. Install (using uv - recommended)
uv sync
# OR using pip
pip install -e .
# 3. Environment
cp .env.example .env # Add your API Keys
# 4. Migrate & Seed
python manage.py migrate
python manage.py seed_partners # Seeds initial partner organizations (helplines)
# 5. Run
python manage.py runserver© 2025-2026 Kiri Research Labs. All rights reserved.