coto focuses on building hyper-local communities for women in Jammu; launches ‘City Ambassador Program’

JAMMU: In an increasingly digital world, online safety has always been a pain point for women. The toxic levels of harassment have disempowered women, driving them out of online spaces and silencing them. For the women on the internet, this has adversely impacted their ability to be seen and heard. According to a survey by Plan International, an NGO working for children’s rights and equality for girls in India, over 58% of women have faced online abuse. The harassment has also resulted in one in five girls (19%) leaving a social media platform and one in ten girls (12%) changing the way they express themselves online.

coto is a Web3-based social community platform designed for women that envisions changing this equation through a trustworthy, transparent, and decentralised world where women hold the power to make a difference. A significant step towards this is coto’s ‘City Ambassador Program’. Through this program, coto has taken the hyper-local approach to unleash the potential of women to become community creators globally. Launched in 30 Indian regions, the phase-wise program will include city, state, zonal, and area-wise local ambassadors.

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Sharing her thoughts, Aparna Acharekar, Co-Founder, coto said, “Our ‘City Ambassador Program’ is a collaborative initiative which brings together different communities of women over a shared goal of collective growth. Keeping sisterhood at the core, we want to connect with women of all ages at the grassroot level. With an action-oriented approach, the program will enable women to support each other, and at the same time, inspire, instill confidence to build an identity of their own.”

Each City Ambassador will work towards onboarding women from different walks of life & genres to build their own communities on the platform. Prioritizing women’s growth and empowerment, these representatives will promote local-level chapters on coto. By coming together and acting as the on-ground flagbearers, they will enable more women to connect, express, be independent, and share solutions via their communities on coto. This will allow women to establish close-quarter sisterhoods, enabling them to build a deeper connection with women from their own cities.

Aarti Mahajan, Entrepreneur & Fitness Trainer, SnS-The Fitness Club, coto City Ambassador Jammu commented, “It is a great pleasure for me to be one of the City Ambassadors from Jammu of coto – a thoughtfully curated platform for women surrounded by constraining norms that are complex and deeply rooted in the society. There is a glaring lacuna of lack of social networks for women, which is also the most significant barrier limiting their growth and progress. With this initiative, it will help us boost their morale to create dialogues, networking, and support amongst each other.”

Aarti is a pioneer content creator from Jammu. Apart from running her lifestyle based Instagram channel, she also runs her own fitness studio - Shape and Smile ‘SnS -The fitness club’.

Here's what creators who have been onboarded on coto from Jammu had to say about their association:

Anissa Nabi, civil servant and athlete said, “coto is a great place for women across the world to feel empowered. Through my community WondrousWomen@coto, I want to reach out to all women from across the world so that they can feel safe and comfortable in their own skin and inspire and motivate them for fitness.”

Anissa is a silver medalist at All India Masters Athletic Championship 2020 and is presently posted as a taxation officer in UT of J&K.

Maansi Rattan, Entrepreneur, Fashion & Design Education said, “coto gives young girls and women a free, responsible and fun way to come together and create communities. I want to help women hone their natural aesthetic to add more beauty into the world!”

Maansi has been associated with the field of fashion for over 20 years.

Pooja Gupta, Entrepreneur said, “With coto, we want to encourage women to come together and stand for each other. We want to provide a sense of community, companionship and co-creation to enjoy, learn, and grow while also motivating women to think independently.”

The program has already kick-started across India in Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Jammu, Lucknow, Patna, Srinagar, Bhopal, Delhi, Jalandhar, Pune, Indore, Nagpur and Chandigarh. A state ambassador has been appointed in Arunachal Pradesh.

The program is built on the values of sisterhood, and participative ownership that enables women in cities to connect, bond, and help each other! Through a localized ‘phygital’ approach, coto’s ‘City Ambassador’ programme empowers women and women communities while rewarding them.