A student at the University of East Anglia has developed an app to help women and girls in Kenya document evidence of gender-based violence.

Bridget Manyange, who reached the final of Changemakers with her project titled ‘Imara Protect’, said that it aimed to give females the opportunity to record incidents with “privacy, dignity and security.”

“Imara Protect is a secure web app that allows women and girls to record evidence of gender-based violence that can then be admissible in legal settings.

“In a lot of situations in Kenya, somebody trying to film as evidence might have their phone snatched. The perpetrator might try and delete the video. 

“On Imara Protect, you cannot delete the video, and to even stop recording, you must enter your own pin. Once that pin is entered, the video is automatically uploaded to a vault.

“The video will be encrypted and tamperproofed with a GPS location assigned to it.”

Bridget was inspired to create the app after witnessing corruption in Kenya where legal aid and justice is not readily accessibly to victims of sexual violence, according to her.

“I am Kenyan, but I’ve lived in Switzerland my whole life,” she said.

“I’ve always grown up in a very privileged environment where I am educated of all the legal systems put into place to protect people.

“Yet when I go back to Kenya for the holidays, I always see injustice around. It’s made me passionate about advocating against gender-based violence. 

“While I cannot singlehandedly fix corruption in Kenya, I realised that I can help empower women and girls by creating Imara Protect.”

Bridget chose the name Imara Protect due to its Swahili translation. 

“Imara means strength, strong, sturdy. I wanted the name to denote that I’m trying to build a strong, secure system for victims.”

As part of being a finalist, Bridget had the chance to develop Imara Protect on an eleven-week accelerator programme. 

During the course of this programme, she connected with tech specialists working with companies such as Apple and Adobe. 

She also learned about how to finance her project, how to grow her team, and other considerations when starting a business.

“I’m so very happy and grateful for the Accelerator Course. Having the exposure and getting to learn from so many big specialists has been invaluable.”

While the 2026 Changemakers competition may have reached its end, for many of the young business hopefuls, it marks just the beginning for their social enterprise.

“My dream is for my app to reach the evidentiary standards that it needs to be used in legal proceedings so women can get the justice they deserve.

“The larger my platform is, the more women and girls will know what my app is and how to use it. 

“Of course, while I’m focused on Kenya right now, I want it to spread to other African countries, then eventually globally.”

Image credit: Bridget Manyange