Kindly
A UNICEF initiative to end cyberbullying — one message at a time
“Being protected from bullying is a fundamental human right.”
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.
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.
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!
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!
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!
Get in touch
Interested in collaborating? Contact us at kindly@unicef.org.
- Amreen Poonawala: Product Manager, Office of Innovation – apoonawala@unicef.org
- Thomas Sayers: Communication Specialist, Division of Communication – tsayers@unicef.org