Moraba, a new mobile game, has the potential to help nearly 1 million vulnerable youth in Africa fight against gender-based violence, according to iDISC, a global network of incubators.
Moraba is a quiz adaptation of a hugely popular Southern African board game Morababara.
The mobile game, conceptualised by Anne Shongwe, a Kenyan-South African developer with more than 25 years of experience in the social development sector, adds a quiz element that forces users to answer questions about gender-based violence to educate and empower its users, the majority of whom are the youth.
It is targeted at children and teenagers and follows a traditional game called Morabaraba. The game enhances knowledge of players on gender-based violence as it has questions and answers in that line.
She said she had the idea Moraba mobile game when she and some of her friends walked into the UNWomen to see how they could help the organisation’s Africa UNiTE Campaign to end violence against women and girls.
Shongwe then partnered with UNWomen and Nokia and began their fight against gender-based violence in Africa.
UNWomen funded its development then Nokia, the Innovation Hub, and Mobile Application Laboratory (mLab) in South Africa came in as business partners.
“We believe it is possible to reach 100 million [young Africans at risk of gender-based violence] with a series of gamified experiences and lessons that can change their choices and conversations,” she had earlier told Al Jazeera.
She is now looking for sponsorship to expand the game to predominant handsets in Africa and also working on how to distribute the game to as many youths as possible.
iDISC is a global network of incubators providing knowledge on business incubation activities to its global network of incubators.
