The SecDev Foundation

06/08/2026

At Jubilee Institute in Amman last month, a group of high school students performed a play about online harm, identity, and growing up behind a screen. Then they debated it. Then their peers decided who won the debate.

The adults in the room — including a former Minister of Education — spent most of the day listening.

This is what it looks like when young people are trusted to lead the conversation.

👉

In Jordan, a novel about online identity, pressure, and harm inspired a rich student-led day of theatre, debate, and dialogue.

05/21/2026

Awareness alone is not enough when digital violence against women becomes a legal case, a media story, or a request for support. Survivors deserve professionals who can recognize harm early and act with competence and judgment.

In Jordan, our Salam@ team is working with the Information and Research Center - King Hussein Foundation to bring that challenge into university learning.

With support from IDRC Middle East and North Africa, future lawyers and journalists are building practical skills through teaching guides, student research, moot courts, and podcast production.

From recording studios to simulated courtrooms, students are learning to treat digital violence against women not as an abstract concept, but as a real challenge they may one day need to document, argue, report on, or respond to.

From mock trials to podcast studios, a pilot project in Jordan is preparing future professionals to respond to DVAW.

05/06/2026

For two days in April, law students from 10 Jordanian universities argued a gender-based violence case involving a fake Instagram account, digital blackmail, and the legal weight of a screenshot. And while the case was fictional, the stakes were not.

Jordan’s second national moot court on digital violence gave future lawyers a chance to unpack the evidence, arguments, and survivor realities behind real digital GBV cases. Notably, the exercise was opened and supported by the Ministry of Justice.

It was all part of our ecosystems-of-support pilot in Jordan and Iraq, implemented with local partners including Jordan’s Information and Research Center - King Hussein Foundation, with support from IDRC Middle East and North Africa. The long-term goal: surround digital GBV survivors with stronger, better-connected legal, education, health, and governance supports.

Read the article: https://secdev-foundation.org/jordan-dvaw-moot-court-2026/ ‎

For two days in April, law students from 10 Jordanian universities argued the same fictional case — and the Ministry of Justice was watching.

05/05/2026

In conflict settings, harm does not move only through streets and front lines. It also moves through the digital channels people rely on for information, connection, and support — through scams, manipulation, and attacks that exploit people in crisis.

A Humanitarian Grand Challenge case study examines Siraj, the youth-led digital safety initiative in conflict-affected Yemen that we developed with مؤسسة شباب سبأ - Sheba Youth Foundation.

Our own short review draws out a few wider lessons: what leadership on the ground makes possible in crisis settings, how initiatives like this can strengthen organizations over time, and the value of models designed to leave trust, tools, and capability in local hands.

A new case study documents a pilot initiative empowering Yemeni youth to push back against scams, misinformation, and other digital harms.

04/09/2026

Could storytelling be the key to opening deeper conversations with youth about digital safety?

Across the MENA region, Meriem Noumeur’s Digital Shadows is helping girls explore online identity, pressure, manipulation, and harm through characters and situations that feel familiar.

Through discussion, art, and performance, young people are turning the novel into a space for reflection, dialogue, and safer ways of navigating digital life.

Read more:

How Meriem Noumeur's book for young readers is helping open conversations about online identity, pressure, manipulation — and safety.

03/27/2026

Introducing Myanmar Digital Research – a 27-study series on how digital life is reshaping risk and resilience in post-coup Myanmar. If you work on development, governance, or digital safety, this is a good entry point.

Produced with Knowledge for Democracy Myanmar - K4DM Initiative, with support from IDRC / CRDI. Full series + key stories here: http://secdev-foundation.org/mdr

03/24/2026

Syria is rebuilding after years of conflict and trauma — and leaning hard into digitization. That brings real promise, but also new risks for ordinary people and the civil society groups supporting them.

We sat down with SalamaTech’s Nada, who recently returned to Syria for the first time in years. She shares what she saw on the ground: what’s changed since the regime fell, what hasn’t, and what digital resilience needs to look like now.

Read the conversation here:
https://secdev-foundation.org/after-the-fall-digital-safety-in-todays-syria/

Just over a year after the fall of the Assad regime, a longtime SalamaTech project leader shares her take on what’s changed in Syria—and the digital dangers people face now.

02/27/2026

When systems don’t coordinate, survivors pay the price. Digital violence often forces women to navigate police, courts, regulators, platforms, and support services—and when those systems are siloed, survivors can be left stranded.

In Jordan, a year-long pilot led by Information and Research Center - King Hussein Foundation brought institutions together to bridge those gaps—mapping the steps survivors face, clarifying roles, and turning shared learning into practical follow-through.

👉 https://secdev-foundation.org/irckhf-dvaw-cop-jordan-2026/

It's part of our wider IDRC-funded initiative in Jordan and Iraq (IDRC Middle East and North Africa). The best part: the community of practice lives on—group members stayed connected and are still coordinating in practical ways.

How Jordan institutions coordinated to tackle DVAW, mapping case pathways and strengthening procedures for safer support.

02/06/2026

Sincere thanks to World University Service of Canada (WUSC-EUMC) and Cooperation Canada for this honour. It means a lot to our staff, field teams, and local partners who keep showing up in tough places. As more of life moves online, digital resilience is vital to keeping at-risk communities safe and civic space open. Warm congratulations to Dr. Lauryn Oates on her individual award as well. And kudos to Canada’s international cooperation community for working so hard to protect civic space and strengthen inclusive leadership in these times.

🎉 Congratulations to the 2025 Innovation and Impact Award winners 🎉

WUSC, together with Cooperation Canada and the trustees of the Lewis Perinbam Award, is pleased to recognize the winners advancing bold, innovative approaches in international development.

🏆Individual Award: Dr. Lauryn Oates
🏆Organizational Award: The SecDev Foundation

👉 Learn more about the winners and Lewis Perinbam's legacy on our blog: https://bit.ly/4a29vJq

***

🎉Félicitations aux lauréates et lauréats 2025 des Prix de l'innovation et de l'impact!🎉

L'EUMC, en collaboration avec Cooperation Canada et les responsables du Prix Lewis Perinbam, est heureuse de rendre hommage aux lauréates et lauréats à l'origine d'approches audacieuses et innovantes en matière de développement international.

🏆Prix individuel : Dre Lauryn Oates
🏆Prix organisationnel : The SecDev Foundation

👉 Découvrez les lauréates et lauréats et l'héritage de Lewis Perinbam dans notre blogue : https://bit.ly/4kq6Cpq

02/03/2026

When women started coming to Baghdad Women Association / BWA for help with online harassment and blackmail, staff recognized the harm immediately. But the old ways of responding weren’t enough.

So working with us and partners like INSM Network شبكة أنسم, they built a durable system: clearer intake, safer documentation, stronger referrals, and wider outreach. Now women are getting real help more safely and sooner. It’s part of our broader effort to foster ecosystems of support for digital GBV survivors in Iraq and Jordan–all supported by IDRC Middle East and North Africa.

How Baghdad Women Association built lasting systems to respond to digital violence against women, linking survivors to the support they need.