Women@Web Digital Security Training Report 2020

The digital literacy and safety training for university students is a Women@web program supported by Deutsche Welle Akademie(DW)  in partnership with local organizations. The training is part of a wider East African program that includes Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet),  Africa, Association of Media Women in Africa (AMWIK) and Siasa place as Kenya partners. The partnership aims to promote the participation of women in online platforms.

In line with the overall objective of the program, this training sought to provide women university students with the information they need to safely and confidently navigate the digital spaces. Through digital responsibility lessons, students took practical steps to protect their privacy and safety online. By learning digital literacy skills including how to evaluate content for accuracy, perspective, and motive, students acknowledged the benefits of digital communities and resources.

The training took place over 3 days at Ngong Hills Hotel Nairobi, whereby the trainers used a variety of interactive methods of training such as lectures, presentations and participatory activities through group work.

A summary of the Thematic areas covered on the training are as follows:

1. Day one discussions: Entailed lectures and activities were about understanding Digital Literacy and understanding the importance of women being digital literate, introduction to Digital citizenship, using the various digital tools and platforms and finding your voice online by creating LinkedIn profiles, blogs, and podcasts.
2. Day two discussions: Included lectures and practicals focused on digital rights and how they are linked to our everyday activities, understanding the internet and how it works, Kenyan legal framework and its application on digital rights, how to get involved on issues online and managing digital footprints.
3. Day three: the participants went through practical activities on Digital security, how to be safe online through KICTANet’s 3-step method: JIJUE- Digital self-assessment, JISAFISHE-Digital Clean-up, JIPANGE- forming good habits online.