In an age where digital devices affect every aspect of our life, it is of utmost importance for us to understand how we consume each device and everything that we surf on the internet. Women, in countries, like Nepal have less access to digital devices compared to their male counterparts. Older women in particular lie at the intersection of systemic misogyny and ageism thereby leaving them behind in conversations regarding digital consumption and safety.
Keeping this in mind, Safer-I launched its first workshop for ‘Tech for Moms’ back in September 2022. This workshop was organized for 24 adult women belonging to Mahila Jagran Sangh in Ilam Bazar, Ilam. Divided over two days, the women were introduced to ideas including the basics of the internet, password security, and social media etiquette. The feedback collected from the program allowed us to continue to update our resources to meet more diverse needs.
Earlier this June, we were able to conduct our second ‘Tech for Moms’ workshop in Amarahat, Dharan. Conducted on the 4th and 5th of June 2023, we were able to facilitate workshops related to internet basics, password security, digital autonomy, financial digital literacy, and social media etiquette.
On the first day of our workshop, we ran a baseline survey to understand the digital needs of our participants. Based on the survey, we found out a majority of our participants were unsure about the process of creating a social media account and safe-keeping their password.
Based on the increasing consumption of social media like TikTok and Facebook among adult women in Nepal, we realized the need to teach them about gaining their social media autonomy, password protection, social media consent, using social media more carefully, and so on. During the workshop, we also focused on greater discussions surrounding the usage of social media, types of content posted, and one’s social responsibility on the internet.
We ended our workshop with a summary and quick reflections. The participants thanked us for designing a session that was practical and applicable. We exchanged our gratitude for their active participation and enthusiasm. We are also grateful to the local media also helped us document our participants and our team’s efforts. Our workshop was covered by Click Dharan in the video linked here. Divyaroshani covered the workshop in the video linked here.
Reflecting on the session, our team feels the need to reach out to a bigger pool of participants and include other local bodies in generating a more sustainable impact.
