{"id":16394,"date":"2023-02-21T11:04:16","date_gmt":"2023-02-21T11:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hiil.org\/?p=16394"},"modified":"2023-02-21T12:38:13","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T12:38:13","slug":"demo-day-2023-the-future-of-justice-innovation-is-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hiil.org\/fr\/news\/demo-day-2023-the-future-of-justice-innovation-is-here\/","title":{"rendered":"Demo Day 2023: The future of justice innovation is here"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

HiiL\u2019s Justice Accelerator announces winners of the 2023 Innovating Justice Award<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Each year, HiiL welcomes selected startups to join its annual Justice Accelerator programme. This year, the programme culminated in the Demo Day on 15 February 2023. The event under the theme \u201cinvesting in a new vision of justice startups\u201d, emphasised data-driven solutions, technology and social entrepreneurship, all in service of closing the justice gap. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twelve startups took part, representing seven countries: Tunisia, Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, and Lebanon. They pitched their game-changing justice solutions to a panel of judges in a bid to win the top three prizes of \u20ac5,000, \u20ac10,000 and \u20ac20,000. The judges included Jackie Nagtegaal<\/a>, CEO of LAW FOR ALL<\/a>, Duncan Onyango, Executive Chairman of KIFFWA<\/a>, and Joseph Naayem, Partner at Contrast Capital. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 2023 top prize went to Mama Fua App<\/a>, which vets and trains domestic workers and connects them to clients. In Kenya, women domestic workers are vulnerable to  poor employment conditions and different forms of (sexual) exploitation and abuse by their employers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To address these issues, Mama Fua App conducts a background check on domestic workers, and verifies their identity, age and criminal record. Lack of verification leads to various issues, such as hiring underage workers and an increased risk of petty theft or violence. Besides providing technical training, Mama Fua App trains women on their rights when it comes to decent working conditions and gender-based violence. When an issue arises, women get a wide range of support from legal to psychological.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cAny domestic worker, such as a cleaning lady, outside the Mama Fua App structure is a possible victim of sexual assault, unjust pay and minimal access to jobs,\u201d said Stephine Ngutah, CEO of the Mama Fua App. \u201cDomestic work is the largest employment industry of African women in Kenya. That\u2019s why Mama Fua seeks to professionalise the work through education and training. To date, 4,000 women in Nairobi and Eldoret have already benefited from Mama Fua, earning between 10 and 20 dollars a day […] this is the reason why Mama Fua perfectly mends the justice gap, creating mutually beneficial outcomes for both employers and workers.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

According to the latest survey on the number of domestic workers in Kenya from the International Labour Organisation in 2011, there are 2 million domestic workers in the country. Mama Fua App has so far served over 3 thousand of them. This is against the backdrop of employment justice being amongst one of the top 3 most serious justice problems in Kenya (HiiL Justice and Satisfaction Survey, 2017<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second and third place went to Willminds<\/a>, founded by Pascale Dahrouj and E-Arbitrator<\/a>, founded by Angelo Kweli.<\/strong> Based in Lebanon, Willminds provides alternative dispute resolution methods as a way to settle disputes without the need to proceed to litigation. According to the HiiL Justice and Satisfaction Survey in 2017<\/a>, 68% of people in Lebanon experience justice problems, whereas only 40% partially or completely resolve them. Alternative dispute resolutions are a relatively new method to resolve justice issues in Lebanon. E-Arbitrator, from Rwanda, is a digital platform that helps SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) resolve disputes through a qualified arbitrator. In this way, the cases are resolved faster and at a lower cost. E-Arbitrator largely focuses on cross-border traders in the East African Community (EAC).\u00a0According to the 2020 EAC Trade and Investment Report, the value of cross border trade in EAC is estimated at 6 Billion USD and growing. Willminds and E-Arbitrator were awarded \u20ac10,000 and \u20ac5,000, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In addition to the three winners above, the other nine startups from this year\u2019s accelerator programme included: <\/p>\n\n\n\n