The National Models for Women’s Safety Online (NMWSO) Program is a catalytic initiative that seeks to address threats to women’s engagement and leadership in digital spaces. The program will work with public and private sector actors in Kenya and the Philippines to document, test, and advance system-level responses to prevent and mitigate online abuse targeting women leaders.  

Women face hostility, abuse, and harassment in digital spaces – the phenomenon that is often described as TFGBV. In addition to the severe negative impact on individuals targeted with TFGBV, it has a “chilling effect” on the future of leadership and undercuts the benefits that women’s participation brings to societies worldwide.

NMWSO works to promote safe and inclusive digital spaces; empower the digital participation of women in public life and digital economy; and support those impacted by online violence. Because the burden of violence prevention and response should not fall on those who experience it, NMWSO will deliberately engage duty bearers, particularly government and tech stakeholders, to gather evidence and create survivor-centered, scalable models for safety online.

Specifically, NMWSO supports tech partners in Kenya and the Philippines to explore, co-create, and trial safety by design tech features as a means to preventing, mitigating, and responding to TFGBV. NMWSO also prioritizes collaboration with relevant government entities to explore regulatory approaches for promoting online safety to prevent and address TFGBV. Throughout these efforts, NMWSO will support women in public life and leadership with tools for protection and response so they can stay safely and productively engaged in digital spaces and inform the design and monitoring of TFGBV mitigation efforts. Ultimately, the learning and evidence derived from this work will inform what policy, regulatory, and technology approaches could work to address TFGBV in other contexts globally.

• Technology-facilitated gender-based violence, or TFGBV, is a threat or act of violence committed, assisted, aggravated, and amplified in part or fully by using information and communication technologies or digital media that is disproportionately targeted at women, girls, and gender non-conforming individuals (Global Partnership, 2023)
• TFGBV is increasingly widespread. Globally, 66% of women have experienced online violence of some kind, and over 85% report having witnessed online violence against other women. (Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security, 2024).

The NMWSO Program will:

• Build upon and coordinate with other global initiatives to mitigate, prevent, and address threats to women’s engagement online and to promote online safety more broadly. 
• Leverage the many resources developed by IREX’s flagship anti-TFGBV program, and the USAID-funded Transform Digital Spaces (Transform) program. Through Transform, IREX has documented extensive gaps in effective strategies to address and mitigate TFGBV, which NMWSO will probe and address, supporting the design of system-wide models for prevention and response by government and tech stakeholders.

• Deepening understanding and evidence of TFGBV tactics and impact: The initiative will create and disseminate critical research and insights on the impact of TFGBV on women in leadership and the general public. 
• Improving digital infrastructure with ‘safety by design’: NMWSO will engage private sector actors to trial innovative strategies for preventing, mitigating, and responding to TFGBV by integration of ‘safety by design’ features.
• Strengthening regulatory pathways to prevent TFGBV: The initiative will partner with public sector stakeholders to co-create regulatory approaches for online safety that will ensure protections for women and girls.
• Support resilience and perseverance in digital spaces: While system-level responses advance, the program will also 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.

• Katya Vogt, Program Director, kvogt@irex.org
• Elayne Deelen, Senior Program Officer II, edeelen@irex.org