Kenyan emergency support platform Usalama has been named the winner of this year’s Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HiiL) Innovating Justice BoostCamp in Nairobi, walking away with EUR20,000 (US$24,000) in funding.
Disrupt Africa reported earlier this month HiiL had announced eight semi-finalists from East Africa for its Nairobi Boostcamp, after the challenge saw a record 601 innovations submitted from 65 different countries.
Usalama made the strongest case out of the selected companies and organisations, six of which were from Kenya and two from Rwanda, and will now join other innovators at the Hague, Peace Palace in December to share and learn more on how best to impact the justice sector.
The Usalama application is a platform that connects users and emergency service providers, including ambulances, security, police and even roadside assistance providers.
The app provides end users in an emergency situation to trigger a distress signal, sending a description of the emergency, GPS location and the location of the nearest providers to two sets of people: the victim’s personal and pre-determined emergency contacts, and an agent employed by an emergency provider.
“It is exciting to see that today’s innovations touch on the most burning social needs in Kenya,” said former Kenyan chief justice Dr Willy Mutunga, who was on the jury panel.
