About The Project

nniChat brings facilitated dialogue on confronting xenophobia and fostering inclusion to platforms young people already use.

Many young people in South Africa distrust traditional political processes and feel disconnected from civic life. Conventional dialogue can feel exposing or unsafe, limiting participation precisely where open conversation is most needed.

The no-name initiative has spent years convening transformative public dialogues, face-to-face and online, in South Africa and across the globe. nniChat adapts this experience into a mobile, text-based format for those most vulnerable or marginalized.

During the most sensitive phase of the dialogue, the nniMethodology enables participants to speak through systemic voices anonymously, rather than disclosing personal positions or experiences. By extending this healing dialogical approach to text-based app, nniChat lowers barriers to participation for young people who may not feel safe participating in person, particularly in volatile contexts.

Each facilitated dialogue creates an online community where participants can hold each other accountable to their dialogue commitments, develop sense of belonging, shared responsibility, and peer support. Post-pilot, nniChat-App, nniChat-App will make this technology available to facilitators more widely, enabling safe and inclusive transformative dialogue to reach more communities.