It starts in Zurich with a little time spent walking, adjusting to the crisp cold air, and observing the city. Mornings over coffee and cold cuts, evenings tracing the quiet rhythm of the streets. Then, a train to Geneva. This is where the real work begins.
A workshop shaping the next five years of Laaha, the digital platform providing education, health guidance, and support to women.
To take Laaha further, UNICEF brought in QED42 to share fresh perspectives on scalability, technology, and design—helping the platform grow beyond what had already been built.
In Geneva, a room came together—representatives, designers, technologists, and strategists—each bringing a different lens. The challenge was about aligning them into something real. Something that wouldn’t just work in theory but in the hands of the women who rely on it every day.
Why workshops matter
Decisions made in isolation rarely hold up in the real world. Projects begin with research and planning, but workshops are where ideas are tested, refined, and made real. This is where assumptions are challenged, where solutions must work beyond a conference room.
For Laaha, there was plenty to figure out. The platform had grown, but growth wasn’t the only goal. It needed to evolve—to scale, remain accessible, and ensure its impact was measurable without compromising user safety. The room was filled with stories from the field.
The room was filled with stories from the field, and people shared how Laaha was being used:
- To navigate conflict zones and learn about safety.
- Provided emergency crisis resources for displaced women.
- Became a vital resource for refugee women seeking stability.
Every region had different challenges, but a common need: was access to reliable information in a way that worked for them.
Learning what actually works
Some ideas seem strong in theory but unravel in practice. Early discussions considered gamification and interactive learning, but reality was different.
Many Laaha users had never interacted with complex digital platforms. For some, access to education had never been an option. Others didn’t have the right to a phone and had to share one with a male family member. The consequences could be severe if they were found using the phone for anything beyond education. In this context, features designed to make the platform feel more advanced risked making it inaccessible—or even unsafe.
Instead of adding more, the team focused on removing what wasn’t necessary.
Navigation became simpler. Interactions became more intuitive. Every design choice had to serve a purpose.
Then came language. Most of Laaha’s content was in English, with only a handful of translations in progress. For a platform designed to serve women globally, that wasn’t enough. Translation takes time, and many of these women speak languages that aren’t widely translated.
The team looked at how AI-driven translation could bridge this gap—making Laaha accessible in more native languages and removing barriers caused by limited translation resources.
Expanding Laaha’s language accessibility is about making the experience feel personal and relevant to every woman who uses it.
Measuring success when you can’t track users
Laaha protects privacy—no logins, no user data collection.
For many of these women, privacy is protection. As mentioned before if someone in their household discovered they were using the platform, it could put them at risk.
This raised a difficult question: how do you measure impact when you can’t track the people using it?
UNICEF had been gathering testimonials—women sharing, in their own words, how Laaha had helped them. These insights also revealed how content consumption varied across different regions. In some areas, where education levels are higher, women engage more with content on social impact and broader topics.
In contrast, in other regions, many women were seeking foundational knowledge, including women's anatomy and biology. Understanding these patterns helped refine Laaha’s approach, ensuring content aligned with the needs of different communities.
The workshop explored ways to improve this—anonymous feedback mechanisms and engagement indicators that don’t require user data. Every solution is needed to balance insight with protection.
Scaling Laaha while managing risk
Expanding Laaha meant more than adding new features. It required strategic growth that worked across different countries and challenges.
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- Access may face restrictions. In some regions, barriers to women’s education could limit Laaha’s reach. If availability becomes uncertain, entire communities might lose access overnight.
Hence the team is working on strategies to strengthen Laaha’s accessibility and make restrictions less likely. - Funding must remain steady. Public donations, private sector partnerships, and UNICEF contributions currently support Laaha, but long-term stability will require more than good intentions.
The workshop focused on discussing and maintaining financial sustainability so Laaha can continue growing.
The goal is that Laaha must stay adaptable. Its structure, funding, and scalability must ensure women can continue accessing it and use the information to their advantage during crises and otherwise, regardless of changing political and economic conditions.
Outside the workshop room
In between sessions, the team walked through Geneva. Conversations split into café corners and train rides, stretching beyond meeting rooms and slide decks.
Zurich had been crisp and efficient, but Geneva had a different energy—the rhythm of French instead of German, the slower pace, the weight of history in its streets. It felt like a place where change could happen, home to UN offices, UNICEF, ILGA World, and countless NGOs working to reshape global narratives and drive meaningful change.
Observing a place where everything worked as it should was a reminder of why Laaha mattered. Not everywhere has that kind of certainty.
In some places, the ability to access information about health, safety, and rights isn’t just difficult—it’s dangerous.
What happens next
We left Geneva with more than a plan—discussions that will shape Laaha’s next phase.
While the final roadmap will be shaped by those who hosted the workshop, some key areas of focus emerged from our discussions:
- Expanding language accessibility – Finding ways to simplify translations on the platform to make content more widely available.
- Reaching women in low-connectivity areas – Evaluating solutions like USSD or PWA to ensure access remains possible even with limited internet.
- Understanding engagement – Developing a dashboard to track key metrics like module completion and time spent.
- Measuring long-term impact – Identifying ways to assess effectiveness while protecting user privacy.
- Simplifying design – Ensuring the platform stays accessible to those who need it most.
Laaha will keep evolving, but its purpose remains the same. It is an educational platform, a response to crises, a resource, and a safe space for women who need all the help they can.
To sum up, this workshop was shaped by many people who believed in that progress. Among them, Nishta, Piyuesh, Shreel, and I from QED42 traveled to Geneva, bringing our expertise, perspectives, and most importantly, our ability to listen.
The next chapter of Laaha will be written by every woman who finds knowledge, support, and safety through the platform. Every small decision in that room will echo into something much bigger.