The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has trained 20 women human rights defenders in Kano State on digital safety and online protection.
The two-day training, supported by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), was organised under CITAD’s “Strengthening Digital Safety and Collective Resilience of Women Human Rights Defenders” project.
The Project Lead, Amina Khalid, said the training was designed to equip women human rights defenders, journalists and advocates with practical skills to protect themselves and their work from digital threats.
She said, “The training is designed to equip women human rights defenders, journalists and advocates with practical tools to protect themselves and their work from the growing digital threats they face.”
Khalid said CITAD had earlier trained 40 women human rights defenders and journalists from Bauchi and Jigawa during a similar programme in Dutse, Jigawa.
She said the Kano participants were drawn from human rights defence, advocacy, journalism and community mobilisation.
According to her, women human rights defenders face threats including phishing, account hacking, identity theft, malware, surveillance, doxxing, cyberstalking, impersonation and misinformation.
She said the training covered secure communication, end-to-end encryption, secure email, file encryption, safe cloud storage, online harassment, spyware and preservation of digital evidence.
A major highlight was the introduction of Reportrix, CITAD’s secure multilingual digital reporting platform for gender-based violence, misinformation and digital rights violations.
Participants, including Hidaya Salisu Ahmad, Zulaikha Danjuma and Samira Adnan, said the training improved their understanding of digital risks and how to respond to them.
They said they learnt that digital safety goes beyond strong passwords to include secure communication, device protection, privacy awareness and proper response to digital incidents.
CITAD said participants were expected to share the knowledge gained with their organisations and communities across Northern Nigeria.
