Sesame Association – Mwatana Participation, along with the Innovation Network for Change, the Middle East and North Africa Center, in partnership with the Regional Observatory for the Right to Information, organized a training course on the basics of digital security on May 13 and 14, 2023 in the city of Fez.
This course, which witnessed the participation of more than 20 participants, including activists, journalists, journalists and students, aims to support the capabilities of the participants from the Fez-Meknes region in the safe use of technology and information and help them confront digital threats.
The course was also an opportunity to learn the tools needed to assess various digital risks, especially those related to preserving privacy. It also enabled the female and male participants to take the first step towards adopting best practices that ensure that they work safely in the digital environment, whether as individuals or as organizations.
The program of the training course included various axes on the subject of the basics of digital security, the most important of which is the nature of the Internet, digital security and privacy in social networks, protecting and strengthening passwords, security in public space, types of digital risks, in addition to mainly practical axes and sessions.
In this context, Eman Al-Hasani, Director of the Innovation for Change Program at SimSim Association – Citizen Participation, said that this course falls within the Innovation for Change project that aims to strengthen the capabilities of civil society through a set of activities and training courses on the basics of digital security.
In her speech, Iman Al-Hassani confirmed that this course organized in Fez is the fifth training session on digital security, after organizing four other courses in different parties. According to the program director, this event aims to strengthen the capabilities of participants and participants from various fields, actors in civil society, and male and female journalists, especially in the field of digital security, and to enhance their awareness of digital risks in the context of enhancing awareness of the importance of digital security in Morocco.
In addition to these training courses, the innovation for change project includes other activities, including the digital security clinic platform, which enables actors to communicate with the association or the innovation for change network to request assistance with regard to digital security, in addition to a digital security lesson that includes several axes on the subject.
For his part, Abdul Ghani Ashhoud, a trainer in the basics of digital security and representative of the Innovation Network for Change – Middle East and North Africa, said that this event aims to contribute to efforts to accompany civil society organizations and female journalists in building and developing their capabilities in areas related to digital security, digital rights and privacy. digital.
This fifth training course, according to Y. Abdulghani, as well as the previous courses on the training material and experience that the Innovation Network for Change has developed and built with its partners in the region since 2018 in the field of digital security and digital rights, which adopted an approach that combines the theoretical side with the practical side, so that the beneficiaries can be aware of all aspects The topic of digital safety and digital rights.
According to what he said, the beneficiaries of this training course, male and female journalists, male and female civil society activists in the Fez-Meknes region, will join a network of digital security ambassadors from the eastern regions, Marrakech-Safi, Souss-Massa, and the Casablanca-Settat region, in order to work. Collectively, to accelerate efforts to spread the culture of digital rights and build the capacities of civil society and female journalists in the field.
In her turn, Mrs. Kenza Sumoud, representative of the Regional Observatory for the Right to Information, considered this training session of great importance, given that digital transformations are a double-edged sword, and today it has become a means for practicing new types of violations of the private life of individuals and the violation of their human dignity, which makes today’s youth Vulnerable to physical or verbal abuse, whether within their families, at workplaces, or in public spaces. “The issue of digital protection has become today a societal necessity, especially with the growth of digital violence and with the continued inevitable transition to the digital space,” said Mrs. Kenza.
She added: “It is important to carefully track the effects of this phenomenon in cyberspace. Therefore, the workshops of this training course on the basics of digital security for civil society and journalists, both men and women, enhance awareness of digital risks and how to deal with them effectively, and then the possibility of individuals and organizations being exposed to hacking and digital espionage can be reduced.” “
The participation in organizing this training session, according to the representative of the Regional Observatory for the Right to Information, comes within the framework of the regional dynamic launched by the Observatory in order to strengthen the capacities of civil society and female journalists in the Fez-Meknes region to ensure the participation of real and effective citizens.
It is worth noting that the Sesame Association – Citizenship Participation is an independent, non-profit Moroccan association whose goal is to raise the participation of Moroccan citizens in the management of public affairs through the use of information and communication technology. Organizations interested in communicating, sharing, and learning to defend and enhance civic space, working to overcome restrictions on fundamental freedoms of assembly, association, and expression.