Enhances women's ability to understand and claim their legal rights, thereby improving access to justice, especially for those in remote or marginalized communities.

Accessibility to Legal Empowerment

Raises awareness about domestic violence and legal rights, contributing to a cultural shift towards recognizing and supporting women's issues.

Increased Knowledge & Awareness

Provides women with the tools to take control of their legal situations while also fostering a supportive community network for shared experiences and assistance.

Agency and Community Support

A supportive environment that encourages women to take proactive steps in protecting their rights, leading to behavioral changes and a reduced tolerance of violence in their communities.

Empowering Action and Behavior Change

The Impact


What I’m doing next..

Test and monitor the legal outcomes of inquiries made on Naari to evaluate its effectiveness in real-life scenarios and continuously refine the advice provided.

Test and monitor the legal outcomes of inquiries made on Naari to evaluate its effectiveness in real-life scenarios and continuously refine the advice provided.

Test and monitor the legal outcomes of inquiries made on Naari to evaluate its effectiveness in real-life scenarios and to continuously refine the advice provided.

Test & monitor legal outcomes of inquiries made on Naari to evaluate its effectiveness in real-life scenarios and to continuously refine the advice provided

Update • June 18 2024

Seeking Volunteers to Join Our Movement! We're looking for passionate individuals to help us take this forward.


- Front-End Engineer (Java, CSS)

- Back-End Engineer (CMS)


We're also open to other volunteer roles.
If you're interested, please contact me to get involved.

मुझे आज़माने के लिए स्कैन करें

सहेली, तुम्हारी बातें सिर्फ मुझ तक सीमित है

नारी

नारी

Scan to use

Naari or नारी helps serve legal knowledge in Hindi to underserved women in violent situations with the help of AI and LLMs. There’s an online web based version available for those who have access to a smartphone and internet. For those who do not have this luxury, a text message based service will provide assistance to those present in the remote parts of the country. With this offline approach, the AI is used in the backend and text message as a way of communication in the front-end.

Insights after speaking to Subject experts, Legal advocates and Survivors

“There are so many organizations, it’s hard to remember their names or their services”

- NGO worker

“Legal process is hard to demystify, but this knowledge can mean the power to change their life”

- Legal advocate

“I had a support system and a voice, but so many people don’t. How can you empower them and prioritize their safety?”

- Survivor

- Social worker

“The people who need it (help) the most are the one’s who have no awareness of this, in remote villages, with no internet or people who’ll listen”

naari

naari

Presenting

Seek Knowledge, Embrace Rights

* नारी * عورت * பெண் * মহিলা * महिला * নারী * जनाना * ಮಹಿಳೆ * സ്ത്രീ * स्त्री *

* नारी * عورت * பெண் * মহিলা * महिला * নারী * जनाना * ಮಹಿಳೆ * സ്ത്രീ * स्त्री *

www.naari.in

Naari AI text assistance

* नारी * عورت * பெண் * মহিলা * महिला * নারী * जनाना * ಮಹಿಳೆ * സ്ത്രീ * स्त्री *

* नारी * عورت * பெண் * মহিলা * महिला * নারী * जनाना * ಮಹಿಳೆ * സ്ത്രീ * स्त्री *

AI Legal advisor that provides instant, accessible legal advice in Hindi, helping women understand their rights and the steps they can take in situations of violence

Violence Statute match from women-reported incidents with applicable legal statutes, helping women identify specific laws that have been violated in their situation

Discover all the NGOs, legal aid organizations, and community support groups that specialize in assisting your specific needs near your location and seek immediate assistance

Solution

How is Naari helpful?

* नारी * عورت * பெண் * মহিলা * महिला * নারী * जनाना * ಮಹಿಳೆ * സ്ത്രീ * स्त्री *

* नारी * عورت * பெண் * মহিলা * महिला * নারী * जनाना * ಮಹಿಳೆ * സ്ത്രീ * स्त्री *

How it helps people with no access to internet?

LLM

Collaborators

SMS text

Localize

LLM backend

LLM

A

Asks Naari

Sends input

Processes & Sends output

Translates & responds

Current use of LLM should be there as a first contact, to educate and spread knowledge and initiate resolving the situation by listening, analyzing and responding

Use of vernacular language is necessary, since majority of folks in India speak Hindi & other regional languages

Apart from an online integration, it’s important to reach out to underserved women who don’t have access to a smart phone or the Internet

If the LLM is unsure of how to deal with a situation due to uncertainty, it should inform the user. The system needs to be self sustaining.

Key Considerations for Naari / नारी

Shakuntala Devi

Violence Survivor

Support Interviewer

Sahana Rao

Social Worker

Dr R.V. Sushmitha

Legal Advocate

Jyotsana Shekar

Shekar, a legal advocate based in Bangalore, who has been actively helping women with legal advice. I realized that as a man, delving in such a vulnerable space would be very sensitive. These survivors still carried their trauma and interviewing them could evoke trauma again. To help navigate this, I took the help of Sahana Rao, a student of MFA Design. She helped me conduct these sensitive Interviews.

I co-designed this platform with Shakuntala, a survivor of domestic violence residing in Gazipur village, Delhi NCR region. She is a home helper who stood up for her rights and has also helped others nearby by challenging patriarchal norms. The platform also involved two subject matter experts: Dr. R.V. Sushmitha, who has actively worked with People's Watch, supporting women with trauma, and Jyotsna -

Co-Designing
With women, For women

3,294,446

3,294,446

Spousal violence cases against women occured in the year 2021* in India

87%

87%

victims didn’t even reach out for help and the violence went UNREPORTED

* Report by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB, 2021)

The Problem

There is an overwhelming amount of resources and information, which can be intimidating for women who are already in a highly stressful situation.

HOW MIGHT WE

Provide easy access to trusted resources and straightforward legal advice to Indian women in violent situations?

Hi, I’m Bhav!

Whats Important to the World

Whats Important to me

What I want to design

Being raised by 3 women - my mother and 2 older sisters, I became acutely aware of the detrimental impact of the patriarchy. How was it fair that I had the privilege of going through everyday life without any fear but my sisters had to take so many precautions just to step out of the house. Even as a child I was aware of these differences and challenges, and although I desperately wanted to help, I didn’t know how. Throughout my daily life I see the affects of misogyny: over-hearing my house-helper share that her husband beats

her as if it was expected, my peers passing around harmful ‘jokes’, my female friends being in a constant state of fear and so many more. These are symptoms of a systemic problem rife with unconscious bias.

Today, as an empowered feminist and a contributing member of the society, I am committed to using my skills as a designer to address and change these issues one step at a time.

Why is this my work?

From my experience working with AI and the current LLMs on the market, I have realized that they often produce information that is irrelevant and doesn't quite cater to the question asked. Especially when using an LLM in this vulnerable domain, the directions had to be very precise. To construct it successfully, two major components of the LLM had to be addressed. The Seed Documents I collect would act as the knowledge base of the LLM. My major focus became the 'Instructions' provided to the LLM, which is where most of these models tend to hallucinate, failing to connect the data points and providing irrelevant information that can't really be used.

Seed Documents & Dataset include legal codes, case summaries, plain-language guides, NGO reports, anonymized testimonials, form templates, legal literacy materials, glossaries, policy documents, ethical guidelines, cultural context data, and field test feedback.

LLM Instructions include providing contextually relevant legal advice, responding in simple Hindi, prioritizing user safety and confidentiality, offering support options, escalating complex queries to human professionals, continuously learning from user interactions, and maintaining ethical standards.

AI tends to hallucinate often

LLM

LLM

Seed Documents

Naari LLM

Collaborators

Instructions set

My
Focus Area

This problem does not start and end with the violence that women face. It is the result of many factors that instill harmful notions into the unconscious psyche of society. Especially in a country like India, where biases are perpetuated through deeply ingrained cultural and religious expectations. Women are raised being taught that they will always be expected to serve the men in their lives in some way. Violence is glorified in movies, subservient women are celebrated, and women who are confident and speak up are vilified.

Generational wealth: Woman did not have the rights to their family’s wealth and property which meant that they were dependent on the men in their lives to survive. The vilification of a divorcee: Divorce is a highly stigmatized concept in India. Analyzing this situation reiterates that this is a systemic issue that is highly challenging to solve.

Understanding the Current Mindset of people in India

So I asked myself..

Can emerging tools like AI and LLMs be effectively leveraged to equip victims of domestic violence with agency?

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Kristian Simsarian for his unwavering support throughout this project. Kristian, It was truly an honor to be your student and work under your mentorship. Your guidance has opened my eyes to new perspectives. I would also like to acknowledge Sergio Burgos from Peru Project for his invaluable guidance and feedback on how to further develop this project. I’d also like to thank Kristian for giving me the opportunity to showcase this work to Ayush Chauhan from Quicksand Design Studios. Thank you all for your support and encouragement.

Mentor • Kristian Simsarian
Duration • 4 Weeks
Class • Awakening your Story

[Personal, AI, Non-profit, Social Impact]

* नारी * عورت * பெண் * মহিলা * महिला * নারী * जनाना * ಮಹಿಳೆ * സ്ത്രീ * स्त्री *

* नारी * عورت * பெண் * মহিলা * महिला * নারী * जनाना * ಮಹಿಳೆ * സ്ത്രീ * स्त्री *

नारी

प्रस्तुत है

ज्ञान की खोज, अधिकारों का संजोज

“Project highlighting my journey, finding purpose and solutions at the intersection of personal passion and social impact”

Accessible Legal Knowledge for Women in India

नारी • naari.in

Dec 2021 - Feb 2022

* नारी * عورت * பெண் * মহিলা * महिला * নারী * जनाना * ಮಹಿಳೆ * സ്ത്രീ * स्त्री *

* नारी * عورت * பெண் * মহিলা * महिला * নারী * जनाना * ಮಹಿಳೆ * സ്ത്രീ * स्त्री *

What is

नारी

नारी

naari

naari

/

?

Instant AI Legal Advisor in Hindi, Empowering Women with Legal Guidance in Violence Situations.

Matching Women's Reported Incidents with Relevant Legal Statutes, Identifying Violated Laws.

Find Local NGOs and Legal Aid for Immediate Assistance Matching Your Needs.

Naari or नारी is an initiative that began as a class project and has since evolved into my passion project, aims to support underserved women facing domestic violence. Our solution leverages AI and generative LLMs in Hindi, the local language, to provide accessible legal knowledge.

Currently, I am working on expanding Naari into a community-driven project to reach a broader audience at the grassroots level and create a greater impact. If you are passionate about making a difference, I invite you to join me in this initiative. Your support can help us reach more people and create a significant impact.