Kingston, 14 August 2026 – The Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport has signed a contract with the technology firm, Amber Innovations, to develop a mobile app to enable people in domestic violence situations to call for help.

The signing of the contract took place on Friday (today) at the Ministry’s headquarters in New Kingston.

The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, said the app, dubbed Jamsafe, would provide an innovative solution for women and men facing abuse and needing help.

Minister Grange said the development of the app would not cost the taxpayer.

“The app is at the value of J$80M but we’ve been able to convince Amber, not only because I think that I’m a convincing negotiator but because of their corporate conscience and commitment… [to] agree to developing this app and it does not cost the Government of Jamaica or this Ministry one dollar,” said the Minister.

Minister Grange said Jamsafe will allow users to press a single button to call for help. It will also connect users to government services including counselling. She said it would function without data or credit.

The founder and CEO of Amber, Ambassador Dushyant Savadia, said the Jamsafe app, which would use AI to assist people who need help from gender-based violence, would become “an example for the whole world”.

Ambassador Savadia said: “It’s not just an app where you have a little app on your phone and you click a panic button and magically things happen. It’s a massive system. It’s an interconnected system that connects multiple agencies with each other.”

He said the app would be useful in several situations. “If you are feeling unsafe on the road, if you are home alone and you have a break in… if you live alone and you feel threatened in some way or there is domestic violence, this app serves every woman who needs help from the government.”

Minister Grange said the app would be monitored by the Bureau of Gender Affairs and the Jamaica Constabulary Force. She said the app would help to streamline access to national support mechanisms alerts and parish based services.

The Jamsafe app will compliment the National 24-hour Domestic Violence Hotline run by the Ministry. Minister Grange encouraged any woman who needs help to call the hotline on 876-553-0372.

Minister Grange said the first version of the app should be ready for testing and deployment by the end of the year.

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