NCW Launches an Online Knowledge Repository for Women in Collaboration with Meta, CyberPeace Foundation and Autobot Infosec
The online portal will educate women on safe use of technology and to form an integral part of We Think Digital – Digital Shakti 3.0 initiative.
Chairperson of National Commission for Women (NCW) Smt. Rekha Sharma & Hon’ble Governor of Jharkhand Sri Ramesh Bais, launched an online resource center – www.digitalshakti.org – for women on 9th Dec 2021. The resource center, aimed at educating women on safe use of technology, was introduced under the ongoing “We Think Digital – Digital Sakti 3.0” project which is a joint initiative of National Commission for Women, Meta, CyberPeace Foundation, & Autobot Infosec Pvt. Ltd.
Smt. Rekha Sharma, Chairperson National Commission for Women said, “In the continuous effort to empower women across the nation, this resource center will be a milestone as it will help women the safe usage of technology and will also help them to be safe from online threats. This will act as a source of information and support for online presence. This will also help in fighting Cyber violence against women and will help prevent tech abuse against women.”
Madhu Singh Sirohi, Head of Policy Programs and Government Outreach, Facebook India said, “User safety is very important to us. We want to ensure people – especially women and children – have a safe online experience so they can benefit from technology. The resource center will help women across the nation to leverage the benefits of technology by learning important safety tips & tricks.”
Maj. Vineet Kumar, Founder & Global President, CyberPeace Foundation says, “We are always at task to help and empower women in the online world and the resource center comes as an aid in making our efforts to reach the remotest women in India to be empowered on usage of technology and join the online community to reap its benefits.”
Background
“We Think Digital – Digital Shakti 3.0“ project started in June 2018 as a collaborative effort of National Commission for Women, CyberPeace Foundation, Facebook & Autobot Infosec Pvt. Ltd. This project aims to help women across the nation to raise the awareness level on the digital front, to build resilience, and fight cyber-crime in the most effective ways. Through this project we have sensitized over 2 Lakh 17 thousand women across India. Currently the 3rd phase of the program is ongoing under which 43000 women have been made aware of cyber safety tips & tricks, reporting & redressal mechanisms, data privacy and usage of technology for their benefits.
The Third Phase of this program started in March 2021 with the Launch at Leh by Hon’ble NCW Chairperson Mrs. Rekha Sharma in the presence of Lieutenant Governor Shri Radha Krishna Mathur & Jamyang Tsering Namgyal MP Ladakh.
In the third phase, along with the aim of training 1.5 Lakh women across India, a Resource Center is developed. The salient features of the resource center are as below
1. Awareness Videos: Videos on various topics of cyber security are made available to the visitors on the page through which they can understand the ongoing issues and can take precautionary measures. This will help any woman to identify if they have/are going to face any cyber threat and how to safeguard themselves.
2. Posters: Small posters have been uploaded on the resource center for a quick bite sized learning for the page visitors. This will give concise information on different issues so that they can learn things on the fly.
3. Help Center: A section of the resource center offers help to the woman in distress on issues pertaining to online safety such as cyber bullying, cyber stalking, Financial Frauds, sextortion, blackmailing etc. There will be a separate section for counselling for “women in need” for the same who can avail real time help when needed through the resource center. Cyber Peace Foundation has made arrangements in a way that the needy woman can fill up some basic information and seek counselling help and they will get help in a very short span of time. Parameters of data privacy have been taken into consideration and no details of the person are shared with anyone.
4. Psychometric Assessment: An assessment will also be made available where any woman can go and take an assessment to see if there is any need for help on mental health of the person taking the assessment. All the details of the woman taking assessment is fully protected and is never revealed to any other party.
5. E-Learning section: In this section, a woman can read through the lessons and information and take a short assessment to gauge the level of knowledge taken through the course.
6. Reporting: A section of the Resource Center provides information on all the avenues of reporting in case any woman is a victim of a cyber-crime. This section will provide users with a step-by-step process of reporting on cyber-crime issues. This will help the users handle lots of issues by themselves such as reporting on social media platforms, getting the content taken down from websites, seeking redressal through the law enforcement route.
The resource center is ready now and will be continuously enriched with more information throughout the project period. The URL for the Resource Center is www.digitalshakti.org.
