IREX and Development Gateway: An IREX Venture are pleased to announce the launch of an innovative initiative to address threats to women’s engagement online. The National Models for Women's Safety Online (NMWSO) program will document, test, and advance system-level responses to prevent technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) among public and private sector actors in Kenya and the Philippines. NMWSO will be implemented by IREX and Development Gateway and is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. 

IREX President and CEO Kristin Lord, a dedicated advocate for IREX’s work addressing online harms, shared her thoughts on the initiative: “We are excited to expand our work mitigating digital violence against women leaders. This is a very timely initiative, as the challenge of digital violence is urgent. Women are being harassed into silence online, and the resulting “chilling effect” of this abuse impacts the future of leadership and undercuts the benefits that women’s participation brings to societies worldwide. We are eager to work alongside Development Gateway to promote safe and inclusive digital spaces, empower the digital participation of women, and support those impacted by online violence.”

The burden of violence prevention and response should not fall solely on those who experience it. NMWSO will deliberately engage duty bearers across the public and private sectors to gather evidence and create survivor-centered, scalable models to address TFGBV. NMWSO will support the design of system-wide models for prevention and response by government and tech stakeholders. 

Specifically, across Kenya and the Philippines, the NMWSO program will: 

1. Create and disseminate critical research and insights on the impact of TFGBV on women in leadership and the general public; 
2. Engage private sector actors to trial innovative strategies for preventing, mitigating, and responding to TFGBV, including the integration of ‘safety by design’ features;
3. Partner with public sector stakeholders to create enabling conditions for women and girls to safely engage online in public and private life; and
4. Adapt and share self-defense and capacity-building materials for women in public life and leadership to support their ability to persevere in digital spaces.

IREX and Development Gateway will collaborate to implement NMWSO, drawing on their combined decades of experience engaging diverse stakeholders to prevent and address gender-based violence, promote inclusive leadership, bridge digital divides, build human resilience to online threats  and address online threats to women’s public participation. IREX is currently implementing the Transform Digital Spaces (Transform) program, a three-year global pilot initiative funded by USAID to expand opportunities for women to safely exercise their civic voice and agency by addressing TFGBV. Development Gateway is a leading digital development implementer, having supported over 70 country governments and leading development agencies in developing and deploying rights-respecting digital systems. NMWSO will build upon the knowledge base, resources, and networks developed through the Transform program and other work by IREX and Development Gateway, to accelerate this existing work in Kenya and expand to new geographies in the Philippines.