A gruesome killing in her own family inspired South African Leonora Tima to create a digital platform where people, mostly women, can talk about and track abuse.
Leonora's relative was just 19 years old, and nine months pregnant, when she was killed, her body dumped on the side of a highway near Cape Town in 2020.
I work in the development sector, so I've seen violence, Leonora says. But what stood out for me was that my family member's violent death was seen as so normal in South African society.
Her death wasn't published by any news outlet because the sheer volume of these cases in our country is such that it doesn't qualify as news.
The killer was never caught and what Leonora saw as the silent acceptance of a woman's violent death became the catalyst for her app, Gender Rights in Tech (Grit), which features a chatbot called Zuzi.
This is one of the first free AI tools made by African creators to tackle gender-based violence.
This is an African solution co-designed with African communities, says Leonora.
The aim is to offer support and help gather evidence that could later be used in legal cases against abusers.
The initiative is gaining interest among international women's rights activists, although some caution that chatbots should not be used to replace human support, emphasising that survivors need empathy, understanding, and emotional connection that only a trained professional can provide.
Leonora and her small team visited communities in the townships around her home in Cape Town, speaking to residents about their experiences of abuse and the ways technology fits into their lives.
They asked more than 800 people how they used their phones and social media to talk about violence, and what stopped them from seeking help.
Leonora found that people wanted to talk about their abuse, but they were wary of traditional routes like the police.
Some women would post about it on Facebook and even tag their abuser, only to be served with defamation papers, she says.
With financial and technical support from Mozilla, the Gates Foundation, and the Patrick McGovern Foundation, Leonora and her team began developing Grit, a mobile app that could help people record, report and get a response to abuse while it was happening.
The app is free to use, though it requires mobile data to download it. Leonora's team says it has 13,000 users, and had about 10,000 requests for help in September.
At its core, Grit is built around three key features. On the home screen is a large, circular help button. When pressed, it automatically starts recording 20 seconds of audio, capturing what's happening around the user. At the same time, it triggers an alert to a private rapid-response call centre, where a trained operator calls the user.
If the caller needs immediate help, the response team sends someone to the scene or contacts a local organisation that can go to their aid.
The app was built with the needs of abuse survivors at its core, says Leonora: We need to earn people's trust. These are communities that are often ignored. We are asking a lot from people when it comes to sharing data.
Despite its usefulness, Leonora admits some individuals have tested the help feature without needing assistance, but there are strict checks in place to prevent system abuse.
The second element of Grit is the vault, a secure digital space where users can store evidence of abuse for legal proceedings. Photos, screenshots, and recordings can be uploaded and saved privately, ensuring crucial evidence isn't deleted or tampered with.
Set to launch is Zuzi, an AI-powered chatbot that listens and guides users to support. Its design came from community feedback, emphasizing a warm aunt-like presence for the users to confide in.
Although primarily designed for women, Zuzi has also been beneficial for men seeking assistance, although there is caution from experts about the limitations of AI in trauma care.
Leonora's work, highlighted at international conferences, emphasizes the critical balance between technology use and human empathy in combating gender-based violence in South Africa.
