The SecDev Foundation

09/23/2026

What can countries across MENA learn from one another about tackling digital violence against women — without assuming that one solution will work everywhere?

That was the question at the heart of today’s Online Symposium on Technology-Facilitated Violence against Women and Girls in MENA, co-hosted by the SecDev Foundation, IDRC / CRDI, IDRC Middle East and North Africa, UNFPA and World Bank Group.

From Netopoly, a game helping young Tunisians navigate digital risks … to mock trials bringing digital-violence cases into Jordanian law schools … to a mobile app connecting women in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region with emergency support and safety resources.

The point of regional collaboration isn’t to reproduce the same solution everywhere. It’s to connect locally grounded experience so people can learn from one another, adapt what works and tackle problems that don’t stop at national borders.

And the value of that work doesn’t stop at MENA’s borders, either. Across the region, people are building practical tools and testing new approaches that can inspire others around the world too.

MENA Digital Resilience Week continues through September 25.

09/22/2026

What can localization, done right, actually look like?

That was one of the big questions yesterday in Amman, as partners from across the Middle East and North Africa came together for a regional symposium on digital violence against women.

Over seven years of working together, local partners haven’t simply delivered someone else’s agenda. They have generated evidence, identified priorities, adapted approaches and built solutions around the institutions and communities they know best.

The “Localization Done Right” session put that experience at the centre of the conversation, as partners from Jordan, Iraq and beyond reflected on their role in shaping the work and driving the agenda.

Together, seven years of work have helped build a regional body of evidence, expertise and practice, stronger connections across institutions and sectors, and a growing MENA-wide community that’s still moving the work forward.

And the conversation isn't finished. MENA Digital Resilience Week 2026 continues through September 25.

09/21/2026

It’s Digital Resilience Week in the Middle East and North Africa.

All week, researchers, practitioners, civil society organizations, journalists, young people and public institutions are coming together in Amman and online around a pressing question: How do we keep turning our learning about digital violence against women into action?

Over six days, the conversation moves from responsible media coverage and regional learning to legal practice, youth engagement, prevention, response and community action. It builds on a seven-year journey shaped by local partners across the region. They have generated evidence, set priorities and developed responses grounded in their own communities and institutions.

The thread connecting it all: evidence matters. And it matters more when people can put it to work: in practice, in institutions, in communities, and in locally led solutions.

We’ll be sharing more from the week as it unfolds.

With gratitude to IDRC Middle East and North Africa for comprehensive support, and to many activity partners, presenters and sponsors throughout the week

08/12/2026

What if the digital photos your children inherit one day don’t really look like you?

That was one of the questions explored by four Iraqi master’s students after reading Digital Shadows, a youth novel about the pressures of digital life.

They each found a different story to tell: about filtered images and memory, performing our lives for social media, changing beauty standards, and the emotional roots of digital violence.

With support from IDRC / CRDI and SecDev, the INSM Network شبكة أنسم helped carry those reflections beyond the classroom. In July, all four students saw their work published by Iraqi media outlets.

Their stories are a great reminder that young people don’t just need advice about navigating digital life. They have perspectives worth hearing — and plenty to add to the conversation.

Four Iraqi students transformed youth fiction about online life into media commentary on digital identity, memory, beauty and violence.

07/08/2026

Across 18 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, a remarkable community has taken shape around a pressing challenge: digital violence against women.

Researchers, frontline workers, organizations and allies are bridging disciplines and borders — deepening knowledge, strengthening support for survivors, and carrying frontline experience into advocacy, policy and public dialogue.

Seven years in the making, this growing regional force is rooted in groundbreaking research, sustained collaboration and relationships built on trust.

For the first time, we’re sharing the fuller story.

https://secdev-foundation.org/mena-dvaw-community/

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.

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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.