Building Safer Digital Spaces: Addressing Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence

The internet should be a place where women are heard, empowered, and given opportunities to thrive not a space where they are harmed or silenced. Our Senior Programs Manager recently participated in Digital Voices: Empowering Nigerian Women Against Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence Before, During and After Elections, a training organized by WEBFALA Digital Skills for All Initiative, with support from Urgent Action Fund Africa for Women’s Human Rights. The engagement provided an important platform for discussing the growing reality of Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) and its impact on women and girls. Participants explored different forms of digital abuse, including cyberbullying, online harassment, cyberstalking, deepfakes, image-based abuse, and online impersonation. What Happens Online Doesn’t Stay Online Digital abuse can have consequences far beyond the digital space. It can affect a person’s mental health, confidence, education, career, relationships, and sense of safety. For women and girls, it can also discourage participation in leadership, civic engagement, and political processes. This makes digital safety not only a technology issue but also a gender equality, human rights, and participation issue. One key lesson from the training is that creating safer digital spaces is everyone’s responsibility. We can contribute by: • Respecting others online and promoting responsible digital behaviour. • Speaking up against online abuse rather than normalizing or ignoring it. • Supporting survivors without judgment and helping them access appropriate support. • Strengthening our own digital security through stronger passwords, privacy settings, two-factor authentication, and other safety practices. Technology has the power to connect people, create opportunities, amplify voices, and expand access to information. It should never become a weapon used to silence, intimidate, or harm women and girls. At Olive Community Development Initiative, we believe that women and girls should be able to participate fully in digital spaces, communities, leadership, and public life without fear of violence or harassment. Let us continue working together to build safer and more inclusive digital spaces where every woman can participate, speak, and lead with confidence.