GOJoven Honduras Association Program Manager and GOJoven Alum, Antonio Barahona, presented at YTH Live, an international conference organized by Youth + Tech + Health (YTH) in San Francisco, California, on May 5-6, 2019. Antonio discussed ZonaSegura, a trauma-informed youth-centered innovative research study and mobile solution to address teen dating violence (TDV) in Honduras.
Led by YTH, in partnership with GOJoven Honduras and GOJoven International, this project aims to prevent TDV by providing prevention information, education on how to have healthy relationships, and map-based searches for local TDV services and resources. ZonaSegura leverages the high rates of mobile phone usage among youth in Honduras to assist them in overcoming individual and structural barriers to accessing rights-based and gender-sensitive TDV prevention information and services.
Accompanying Antonio were Esther Tahrir, Executive Director of GOJoven International, and Emma Schlamm, Program Coordinator for YTH. They participated in a breakout session highlighting ZonaSegura, along with other projects that focus on technology solutions for TDV and sextortion prevention around the world. In the session, Antonio shared areas of success for the initiative, feasibility for similar interventions, and disseminated findings from the pilot study conducted in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. He shared the session with another organization, RNW Media/Love Matters India, which launched the online campaign #IsThisLove to empower young people to seek healthy relationships and distinguish them from unhealthy ones. Their campaign includes social media, memes, and videos.
YTH Live has been held annually since 2005 in San Francisco and is the embodiment of the intersection of youth, technology, innovation, and health. The conference is open to youth, parents, educators, tech professionals, health professionals, and others that are dedicated to such a field.
