The International Girls in ICT Day is an annual global event that was initiated by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). It is commemorated every fourth Thursday of the month of April to create awareness and call for more participation of womxn and girls within the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector.
Under this year's theme “Digital
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OUR STORY
WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO
HER Internet is a feminist organization established in 2018 to advocate for digital rights and internet equalities of communities of structurally silenced womxn in Uganda. HER Internet was set up to promote and protect the rights to freedom of expression, privacy, data protection and internet access of structurally silenced womxn. In Uganda and globally, womxn are facing increased online harassment, blackmail and extortion. In addition, the non-consensual sharing of private information and other forms of cyber-crime, surveillance and censorship unduly target structurally silenced womxn because of their unique circumstances- including; their sexual orientation, gender identity/expression and/or choice of work, living conditions and geographical areas.
Embedded within Uganda’s social fabric are structural inequalities rooted in patriarchy, class and geographical differences, whether it is the predominance of womxn suffering from online trolling, gendered censorship of bodies, male dominance in the tech industry, or gendered stereotypical representations reproduced in technologies like Amazon’s Alexa. These inequalities are exacerbated by the high levels of cyber-crime and increased efforts of both state and non–state actors’ surveillance and direct censorship of womxn both at individual and organizational levels. This manifests in the shrinking of spaces; even within the civil society itself, creating an environment rife with self– censorship, policing of voice and body which makes it hard to express oneself and inadvertently limits others from accessing certain information. These practices are demeaning our efforts in organizing, expression and movement building, and as a result, impeding our realization of agency, awareness and demand for social justice at the community and national levels.
In this vein, HER Internet’s mission is to close the knowledge gap on online and offline security for structurally silenced womxn. We plan to achieve this through the dissemination of information on access to and utilization of ICTs and other tools, support for data protection, research and documentation on access to and use of the internet as well as supporting discussions around engaging more structurally silenced womxn on the internet.
HER Internet’s work is rooted in the clear purpose of challenging the oppressive system that is patriarchy, which is pervasive in general online spaces, spaces for womxn, as well as our subconscious actions on how we use the internet and other ICTs. HER Internet embodies the Feminist Principles of the Internet developed by various activists and feminist techies from all over the globe. The principles cover themes of access, movements and public participation, economy, expression and agency. They state that a feminist internet is one where womxn and queer people have affordable and equal access and are able to create, design and use technologies to challenge sexism and discrimination. It is one where feminists’ use of the internet is linked to resistance in other spaces and where the internet allows us to connect and demand accountability.
HER Internet’s interventions target communities of structurally silenced womxn. The goal is to build fearlessly expressive womxn who are actively engaged in bringing about social transformation online and offline.

OUR VISION
An equal and just internet for all womxn so that they are their
own agents of social change.
OUR MISSION
Equipping womxn with digital literacy and cyber security information and skills for increased and safer online engagement, while contributing to the objectives of the feminist movement.
OUR LATEST WORK
The cases of Non- consensual Circulation of Intimate Imagery (NCII) have increased alarmingly across various mass media and social media platforms in Uganda especially in the recent few months. This problem has been escalated by unawareness and adamance of the general public and law enforcement to recognize that forms of online abuse generate real life
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We attended the annual Uganda Social Media Convention #SMC2023 organized by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Uganda country office at the MCI Media Hub in Kampala on Thursday 23rd March 2023. Themed Social Media, AI and the Future of Governance, the aim of this conference was to convene various key stakeholders from the government, civil society, academia and
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From 14th to 15th March 2023, we attended a knowledge and skills enhancement training on Gender Responsive Communication for Policy Development Processes hosted by Uganda Women’s Network (UWONET) Secretariat in Kampala. The two days’ workshop specifically targeted Advocacy and Communications Officers to direct attention to the importance of effective messaging and communication framework or guidelines
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On Friday 10 March 2023, we were delighted to participate at the virtual side event that was hosted at the 67th session of the Commission on the Status of Women #CSW67 NGO Forum by Initiative Sankofa d’Afrique de I’Ouest (ISDAO) in collaboration with UHAI-EASHRI titled “WE, WOMEN, WEB ACTIVISTS - Principles, Outcomes, and Perspectives of
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The UN Women’s Gender Snapshot 2022 report indicates that online violence has largely contributed to the exclusion of womxn from online platforms and continues to widen the digital gender divide. This has resulted into a loss of $1 trillion from the gross domestic product especially in low- and middle-income countries in the last 10 years
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Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) hosted a training workshop on Advocacy Strategies for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and partners under their #FemTech project on Thursday 9th February 2023 in Kampala. The #FemTech project which is currently supported by Internews in Uganda aims at empowering Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) to fully engage and safely participate
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On behalf of HER Internet, our Anchor, Sandra Kwikiriza joined Seyi Akiwowo (CEO & Founder, Glitch), Nina Jankowicz (Vice President, Centre for Information Resilience), Jac sm Kee (Co- Founder and Cartographer, Numun Fund) in an enlightening conversation online hosted by Eliza Anyangwe (Managing Editor, CNN's Gender #AsEquals team ) following the 'Systems Error' investigative series
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Together with Data4Change, Internews organized a 3-day virtual interactive Strategic Communications Workshop Series for Greater Internet Freedom (GIF) partners to share knowledge, gain new skills and build on existing strengths in advancing internet freedoms across the globe from 23 January to 25 January 2023. The Greater Internet Freedom (GIF) Consortium is an initiative that was
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Want to know more about recent updates in our work at HER internet? Well, the Fourth Edition of our Biannual Newsletter is finally here! Download a free copy now and stay in the loop about highlights that took place in the second half of 2022 by clicking: https://www.herinternet.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/HER-INTERNET-Biannual-Newsletter-Dec-2022-12.pdf
We remain grateful to all partners, allies and
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Thank you for showing interest in HER Internet’s programs and initiatives. Get in touch with us today so that we can collaborate!