Delivering virtual Digital Gender Inclusion and Innovation Bootcamps

The digital age has enabled vast opportunities for people worldwide, however not everyone has been able to benefit. For more than 60 million forcibly displaced women and girls worldwide these opportunities are limited, if not completely inaccessible. Digital information, resources, communities, training and job opportunities remain out of reach to those who could arguably benefit from them most.

For example, stateless women and girls, older women and women and girls with disabilities living in displacement contexts are among those with least access to digital services. Forcibly displaced adolescent girls are also highly exposed to technology facilitated gender-based violence.

UNHCR are committed to bridging this digital gender divide. One of their key initiatives is to strengthen capacity among forcibly displaced and stateless women, in promoting digital gender equality and innovation - thereby supporting them to create their own digital gender inclusion initiatives with their communities and act as role models. The bootcamp series is a core contributor to this initiative.

Together with UNHCR, each year we have embarked on a design phase to define the structure, content and analysis of the bootcamp. Starting with definition of our bootcamp goal;

To equip all participating organisations with the right skills, knowledge and confidence to safely and impactfully digitally include forcibly displaced women and girls, in all their diversity

A pre bootcamp survey indicates the digital literacy and connectivity of the participants, so that we can plan the right level of support for those who need it.

To set the tone of the bootcamp, we open with a set of environment principles, to help create a safe space to innovate. We ask participants to; Listen, Share, Mess Up and Reflect, to foster a playful and supportive environment. We then surround the bootcamp with a range of support mechanics, such as a technical facilitator, to troubleshoot any issues participants are having with the tools or content.

We continue to build deep reflection into the project to ensure that we are improving the experience, year on year, for each cohort of participants.

We apply the ‘learning by doing’ ethos to our bootcamp design, ensuring that each theme shared in the training has a practical activity associated with it, and plenty of time for discussion. We learnt from our 2023 cohort the value of sharing experiences between participants, so have adapted the agenda to facilitate more breakout conversations and moments for open discussion.

The bootcamp features content from UNHCR, Here I Am and a collection of other excellent partners, including GSMA, Internews, Women in the Digital Economy Fund (Global Digital Inclusion Partnership), Concat and Kolaborate. The agenda covers a range of topics within digital gender inclusion and innovation.

Key learnings from the 2024 participants included;

• General understanding of the digital gender divide
• The importance of connecting and including displaced women in the conversation and engaging with women-led organizations working on gender equality
• The importance of digital literacy and digital training for displaced or stateless women
• Digital safety, safeguarding against cyber crime
• Online tools and services available for free. Including project management, learning and research tools - such as Project Canvas, Coursera and Fatima
• Toolkits such as Empathy Mapping and the GSMA MISTT toolkit
• And crucially; How to apply and qualify for funding and innovative partnerships

At the end of the bootcamp, UNHCR organised an interactive and inspiring Donor Engagement Session with participants and pledging entities of the Global Refugee Forum to foster collaboration on bridging the digital gender divide in contexts of forced displacement and reinforce accountability to and partnerships with organizations led by forcibly displaced and stateless women and girls.

Successful practices led by 2023 Cohort participants were shared for further inspiration, and all participants could interact directly and share relevant information about respective initiatives.

Fostering these partnerships was a hugely valuable aspect of the bootcamp, unlocking potentially transformative opportunities for participants through funding.

Throughout the past 2 years, this series of bootcamps has trained 47 in-country organisations in bridging the digital gender divide among displaced and stateless women and girls. Across the globe, we have seen how digital gender inclusion enhances the protection, inclusion and participation of forcibly displaced and stateless women and girls, while also boosting digital safety and self-reliance. For example, for the 2024 bootcamp we had the joy and honour of inviting previous bootcamp attendees to share how the experience has impacted them.

Festo Nduwayezu from Let’s Help International and Wani Moses from Rescue and Relief Mission joined a session to present the impressive progress that they have made with their organisations since the previous year’s training.

Their input was invaluable for the current cohort to understand how the tools and techniques can be applied in practice, and was also a rewarding demonstration of the impact the training has had on participants.

100% of participants in 2024 rated their overall experience of the bootcamp as a 4 or 5 out of 5.

“Everything is excellent, from the organization and delivery method to the time management” Anonymous bootcamp participant - 2024

“Thank you for sharing this opportunity with me to learn. I believe I will always use it, regardless of wherever I may go to work.“ Anonymous bootcamp participant - 2023

“We are grateful for the opportunity to expand our knowledge and expertise in technology and innovation. We will work hard to apply what we learn in this program to our future projects and activities, and we look forward to continuing to work with you to achieve positive change in the lives of women and promote gender equality in disadvantaged communities. Thanks again for your support and encouragement.” Anonymous bootcamp participant - 2023