21 out of the 25 selected women from Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa and Kano have been trained on using digital analysis to close the gap between male and female in leadership.
The training conducted by the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) was held at the Command Guest House, Bauchi on Thursday.
It was part of efforts to address all forms of biases, abuses and violence in the digital circle directed at women particularly those aspiring to leadership positions across all strata of existence in the country.
Convener of the training, Fatima Bakura said that the participants were drawn from the 4 States of Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa and Kano after a very thorough selection process from the over 100 applications received.
Fatima Bakura explained that, “We received over 100 applications out of which 25 were selected but today, only 21 turned up for the training which is the final stage. The project was a 3-month project, it is ending at the end of the month of December, 2023.”
She added that part of the criteria used in the selection was the effective usage of the digital world by the applicant in performance of her functions and ability to use it to influence policy formulation and implement.
According to her, the training was a build-up to the previous ones for the participants to share their experiences in stepping down digital literacy and advocacy to their respective communities.
Fatima Bakura stressed that the main focus is to ensure that in all organisations across the country, the 35 affirmation for women was achieved particularly in leadership positions.
She added that those that did well in an essay competition organised before now are to be motivated with cash awards in three different categories as First, Second and Third positions will receive N100,000, N75,000 and N50,000 respectively.
Executive Director of CITAD, Yunus Ya’u said that he was thrilled with the experiences shared by the participants during the training as it depicts the main objectives of the project.
He assured that the Centre will take up some of the issues raised by the participants in order to fashion out how to address digital challenges facing women.
Yunus Ya’u highlighted the importance of digital skills and training, creativity, data collation and other aspects of digital skills in achieving the overall objectives of the Centre encouraging the participants not to relent until the objectives were met.
While sharing her own experience during the project, one of the participants who spoke to Journalists, Maimuna Suleiman advocated for more access to digital technology by women in rural communities where bulk of the abuses and gender based violence occur unaddressed.
She further argued, that access to digital technology is the most vital requirement to echo the voices of victims especially women, suffering different forms of abuses and gender based violence in the digital space.
Another participant, Sarah Isaac, underscored how technology facilitates gender based violence while little or nothing is being done about it leaving the victims to suffer in silence not knowing what to do.
She stressed that there are various kinds of harassments that exist in the digital space especially the verbally induced ones through writing and other gestures which at the end, leave pains and hurts in the heart of the victims.
Most of the participants are of the opinion that with such training, women will be able to use digital analysis to fight against all forms of gender based violence against women and girls in the digital space.
. TheWitness