HER INTERNET HOSTS TECH FUN DAY EVENT TO COMMEMORATE 16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM 2022.

With support from Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and African Women Development Fund (AWDF), HER Internet hosted a Tech Fun Day event under the theme “Reimagining an internet free from Online Gender Based Violence” in Kampala on Friday 9th December 2022 in commemoration of this year’s 16 Days of Activism following the global theme: #UNiTE: Activism to End Gender Based Violence against Women and Girls”. The playful advocacy event was among the activities entailed within our collaborative campaign with Digital Dada Podcast and She E-Secures and it aimed at raising awareness on the on the curtailing online gender based violence against structurally silenced womxn and girls and how it can be addressed.

In her welcome remarks, the Executive Director at HER Internet, Sandra Kwikiriza noted that the playful advocacy event was a culmination of this year’s #16Days collaborative campaign with Digital Dada Podcast and SHE E-Secures based in Kenya and Ethiopia respectively. Some of the activities that took place within this campaign included; a podcast session under a Town Hall Meeting theme which was hosted for female journalism students by Digital Dada Podcast at the University of Nairobi in Kenya to discuss all matters concerning OGBV and the launch of a Telegram channel in Ethiopia which will widen the shrinking civic space online as well as offer support to womxn who are more vulnerable to online violence.

Sandra further shared her hopes for the day as a start for reflections and conversations on how to build a united block through collaboration and collective power towards the creation of a safer internet for everyone regardless of who we are. She encouraged participants to keep the conversations going and emphasized HER Internet’s commitment towards creation of a safe feminist internet for all users especially those from systematically marginalized communities in the efforts to eliminate violence in all its forms.

Among the highlights of this action-packed event were games such as Take Back The Tech, a card game in which participants shared diverse scenarios of online violence and how they can take charge of digital spaces to mitigate the issue. And it was peaked with a panel discussion based on the theme of the day in which discussants shared their personal lived realities with #OGBV, how to build a supportive online community and innovative ways on how to revolutionize online spaces to eliminate violence against structurally silenced womxn and girls.

Panel discussion on the theme of the day “Reimagining an internet free from Online Gender Based Violence”.