Background
Digital technologies and online platforms have expanded opportunities for communication and public expression. On the other hand, these have also perpetuated and escalated gender-based violence online and offline. As the world moves fast, and technologies evolve, new forms of gender-based violence facilitated and amplified by technologies also emerge. This is what is termed as “Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence” or TFGBV. Unfortunately, the overall prevalence of online violence affects 85% of women globally. In South and Central Asia, the growing gendered digital divide in access and usage, anonymity online, lack of timely or sufficient TFGBV laws, gendered disinformation, and patriarchal societal norms perpetuating permissibility of GBV translate to varying, long lasting, and harmful impact among women and girls, and marginalized communities.
Our Strategy
SHE LEADS! envisions to make online spaces and digital platforms safer for all, especially for women and girls. Led by Search for Common Ground, this 3-year project which started in October 2023 will be implemented in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan in consortium with our three local CSO implementing partners, and with the support of the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues (S/GWI) of the US Department of State. This project will impact the lives of over 3,000,000 women and men through directly engaging 200 individuals as locally-based digital stewards, 15 civil society organizations (at least 10 of them women-led) working to address GBV and promote human rights, 75 government and private sector stakeholders in law enforcement, cybersecurity, relevant ministries, ICT sector, and social media companies, and 200 individuals, mainly women and girls, vulnerable to TFGBV.
Events
View our first webinar here, and stay tuned for the second one, where we'll spotlight digital community stewards from Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan.
Newsletters
See our past newsletters: March 2024. Fill out the Interest Form below to receive future updates!
Featured Resources
SHE LEADS Curriculum on TFGBV
Purpose This training from SHE LEADS is designed to equip Digital Community Stewards (DCSs)—administrators and moderators of online spaces—with the skills and knowledge necessary to manage and nurture digital communities effectively. The curriculum aims to...
Core Group of Digital Community Stewards – SHE LEADS
Introducing Our Core Group of Digital Community Stewards Meet the SHE LEADS Core Group of Digital Community Stewards from Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. These dedicated individuals—administrators, moderators, online influencers, and civil society representatives—manage both offline...
Training – Digital Community Stewards: Building Social Cohesion in Online Communities
Online communities have become more common in the post-pandemic world. Communities that met in person moved to social media to form groups on platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, and others. New online communities...
About the Digital Community Stewards Training
This training package for Digital Community Stewards to Build Social Cohesion in Online Communities is a truly collaborative product. It began with lessons learned from Search’s Sri Lanka ‘Cyberguardians’ project, which in 2019, demonstrated the...
Building Social Cohesion in Online Communities | ConnexUs Thursday Talk Recording
Online communities have become increasingly prevalent in the post-pandemic world. Research shows that as of 2021, there are over 10 million Facebook groups, with more than 1.8 billion people using them monthly. Over 70 million...
Call for Interest
If you are interested in future updates or in participating, please feel free to fill out the Interest Form below: