Yogyakarta, October 5th 2023─A team of students from Master of Public Administration of UGM made a proud achievement in the Arau International Creativity Expo (ACE) 2023, an international competition held by World Invention Intellectual Property Associations (WIIPA) and Center of Excellence Geopolymer and Green Technology (CEGeoGTech), Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP). In this prestigious competition, the student team won the gold medal through the DASH WARNING innovation.
Motivated by the awareness of the huge impact of sexual harassment in society, the team consisting of Amanda Elista, Defy Rizky Ramadhany, Sania Octa Priscilia, and Sinta Novia created the DASH WARNING application that enables the use of technology to provide proactive solutions to prevent sexual harassment. The innovation offered by DASH WARNING won the gold medal and competed with 252 teams from 10 countries.
“This (sexual harassment) is a social problem that needs serious attention, and we feel excited to make a positive contribution in tackling it,” Sinta explained.
DASH WARNING has four main features, namely Guardian Alert which functions as a sexual harassment detector, Command Center as a one-stop place to report psychological services for victims, Report functions for monitoring and reporting the progress of case resolution, and Monitoring and Evaluation which allows effective monitoring even remotely.
The student team hopes that further development of the DASH WARNING application, which is still in prototype form, can be realized up to the application launching stage. The support of development funds and collaboration with government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and educational institutions are expected to help in the improvement and expansion of the DASH WARNING application.
Although ACE 2023 is the first competition participated in as a team, the achievements made by the student team through hard work and innovation of the DASH WARNING application have proven a real contribution to the positive impact of preventing and anticipating acts of sexual harassment early on.
“There are mixed feelings of joy, respect, and deep gratitude for winning the gold medal and contributing to supporting victims of sexual harassment and raising awareness on this issue,” said Sinta.
This innovation is in line with Sustainable Development Goal 9, which is Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure.