WhatsApp And Girl Effect Team Up For Chat Bot ‘Bol Behen’ Aimed At Helping Young Girls With Health-Related Questions

Non-profit organisation Girl Effect has teamed up with WhatsApp for a chatbot called ‘Bol Behen‘. Translated to ‘Speak, Sister’ or ‘Ask, Sister’, it aims at encouraging young girls and women to ask questions and raise their concerns surrounding women’s health and wellbeing that they might otherwise be sceptical about asking. The chatbot is designed to answer questions in Hinglish, a combination of English and Hindi, for ease of understanding and communication.

All about Bol Behen

Bol Behen is an amazing initiative from an educational point of view. It’s also a great tool to raise and create awareness about the importance of women’s health and wellbeing. Girls must understand that their health is not a taboo or a topic that requires silence and secrets. The availability of a chatbot like Bol Behen gives adolescent girls and young women the platform and space to ask and raise questions about their health, sexuality, reproductive health, ovulation process and relationships. The idea behind ‘Bol Behen’ is to create an avatar of a digital older sister who will readily answer questions, queries and doubts on topics related to women’s wellbeing without shaming or making the inquirer uncomfortable.

How to access it?

The primary target audience of this tool is girls who live in regions where they may have access to only basic technology such as lower-end smartphones and slower internet speeds. The chatbot method will thus ensure that young girls don’t miss out on the services of bol behn simply because of inaccessibility to high-end tech. There are two ways this chatbot can be accessed. First, you can drop a ‘Hi’ on the number +91-730449661 on WhatsApp. Second, you can visit the invite link here.

Bol Behen was first launched with the Facebook messenger in 2020, making this the non-profit’s second collaboration with another Meta owned platform. The reachability of WhatsApp has grown considerably in recent years, rendering it one of the most effective platforms of communication for an initiative like ‘Bol Behen’.