Kindly

A UNICEF initiative to end cyberbullying — one message at a time

A boy raising his hand to participate in class in a classroom at Oasis Primary school in Hartcliffe, Harare, Zimbabwe.

“Being protected from bullying is a fundamental human right.”

Marta Santos Pais, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children

Did you know that 1 in 3 children is bullied?

  • According to the UNESCO Institute of Statistics, one-third of the globe’s youth is bullied.
  • According to the Federal Government, about 20% of students ages 12-18 experienced bullying in the United States.
  • In 2019, among students ages 12-18 who reported being bullied at school during the school year in the United States, 15% were bullied online or by text.

Bullying affects all youth, including those who are bullied, those who bully others, and those who witness bullying. The effects of bullying may continue into adulthood. Cyberbullying is a pressing concern that requires immediate attention as children become increasingly exposed to digital mediums.

Help stop cyberbullying!

Contribute to Kindly's understanding of message intent by submitting any sentence and flagging if it has cyberbullying intent or not.

What is Kindly?

Kindly is a digital solution that aims to end cyberbullying and make children feel safer, by leveraging the latest advances in technology and by empowering children to solve this pressing challenge.

Kindly was first conceptualized by 16-year old Gitanjali Rao, TIME’s First-Ever Kid of The Year. UNICEF is now developing this as a Digital Public Good.

Winny Moreira, 17, checks her mobile phone on a street in Taiobeiras municipality in the Southeastern state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.
UNICEF/UN017602/Ueslei Marcelino

What does it do?

Test Kindly for yourself!

Reply to the message and check your entry with Kindly to see if your message is toxic or considered cyberbullying.

How does it work?

  • Kindly itself is an open-source API that uses machine learning (ML) to detect the cyberbullying intent in text messages.
  • When the API is integrated with an existing text-based service such as a chat interface or email platform, children receive real-time feedback on whether the string of text they have typed is suspected to be toxic or cyberbullying.
  • By providing instantaneous feedback, our ML-enabled service allows children to reconsider what they have typed and modify it, thus leading towards positive behavior change.
Kindly Architecture

Don't just test — help improve Kindly!

Contribute to Kindly's understanding of message intent by submitting any sentence and flagging if it has cyberbullying intent or not.

What do we want to achieve?

Digital Public Good

Create an open-source product that can be used by software developers to be integrated into existing text-based interfaces

Awareness

Raise greater awareness around cyberbullying while respecting children’s freedom of speech

Feasibility

Apply frontier technology within a real world-setting for social good

Empower

Empower children to solve a challenge that directly affects them

Community

Involve the broader community to contribute to this initiative

What's next?

  • Collect additional training data
  • Improve the accuracy of the model
  • Make Kindly available in other languages

How to get involved

Making Kindly a success is a community effort!

ANYONE (including students) can help by testing Kindly and providing feedback that can help improve the model. It is just as simple as typing in phrases and agreeing/disagreeing with the output!

Girls take computer lessons at BiBi Mehro Girls High School, in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.
UNICEF/UN0340019/Frank Dejongh

Schools

Help us spread the word amongst your students. You can also integrate Kindly within any existing technology chat-based platforms that your students use!

Government/Non-Profit Organisations

Help us spread the word amongst your schools. You can also integrate Kindly within any existing technology chat-based platforms that your network of schools use!

Irin Akter is a teacher at Surovi learning Centre. She is taking online classes over phone to help her students
UNICEF/UN0384852/Paul
Micke Mbotu uses a chatbot on her phone to access nutrition counselling at her home in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia.
UNICEF/UN0459215/Padji

Technology Organisations

Join us in our technical development journey. You can also integrate Kindly within any of your existing chat-based platforms. You may also support through financial contributions!

EdTech Organisations

Join us in our technical development journey. You can also integrate Kindly within any of your existing chat-based platforms. You may also support through financial contributions!

Carine works from her laptop at home in Kigali, Rwanda.
UNICEF/UN0473860/Gelman / VII Photo

Get in touch

Interested in collaborating? Contact us at kindly@unicef.org.