Kano: CITAD Trains 20 Women Rights Defenders on Digital Safety

Twenty women human rights defenders in Kano State have completed a two-day training on digital safety and online protection organised by the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), with support from the Association for Progressive Communications (APC).

The training was held under CITAD’s Strengthening Digital Safety and Collective Resilience of Women Human Rights Defenders project, aimed at equipping women rights defenders, journalists and advocates with practical skills to protect themselves and their work from growing digital threats.

Project Lead, Amina Khalid, said the programme was designed to help participants understand emerging online risks and adopt measures to secure their accounts, devices, communications and sensitive information.

“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.

She disclosed that CITAD had previously trained 40 women human rights defenders and journalists from Bauchi and Jigawa states during a similar programme held in Dutse, Jigawa State.

According to Khalid, the Kano participants were drawn from human rights advocacy, journalism, community mobilisation and other areas of civic engagement.

She said the increasing reliance on digital platforms had exposed women human rights defenders to threats including phishing, account hacking, identity theft, malware, surveillance, doxxing, cyberstalking, impersonation and misinformation.

The training covered account security, device theft, spyware, online surveillance, social engineering, online harassment, impersonation, image-based abuse and the preservation of digital evidence.

Participants also received training on secure communication practices, including end-to-end encryption, secure email, file encryption and safe cloud storage.

A key feature of the programme was the introduction of Reportrix, CITAD’s secure multilingual digital reporting platform for gender-based violence, misinformation and digital rights violations.

Participants were encouraged to use the platform to report digital safety breaches and rights-related concerns affecting their communities.

Some participants, including Hidaya Salisu Ahmad, Zulaikha Danjuma and Samira Adnan, said the training had strengthened their understanding of digital risks and improved their ability to respond to online threats.

CITAD said the programme would also help build collective resilience among women human rights defenders and enable them to anticipate threats, respond to attacks and continue their advocacy safely.

The organisation urged participants to share the knowledge gained with their organisations and communities across Northern Nigeria.

By Ladan Muhammad Nasidi,kano