On Saturday, November 16, 2019, WETECH (Women in Entrepreneurship and Technology) organized a WETECH4LIFE training workshop for women-only in the town of Bafoussam, in the West region of Cameroon. A workshop sponsored by the « Digital Rights Coalition« , through the international organization ‘Internews‘ and the « Ensemble Cameroon » program.

This workshop, under the theme: « How Technology Can Improve Women’s Living Conditions » focused on women’s awareness of Digital Rights, Cybersecurity, Mobile assistance applications, and Digital Marketing. The training was a day full of exchanges, sharing of experiences and ideas around the various themes mentioned. All in an atmosphere of cheerfulness, friendliness, and trust between women in that rural area.

The event held at Talotel Hotel in Bafoussam, began with a workshop focused on the introduction to Digital Rights and recommendations in terms of cybersecurity. The session motivated the participants to talk about the dangers of the Internet, while it has been reported cases of identity theft on the social networks and attempts to hack online accounts with links publications or pornographic content. In the second part, we presented local digital applications that can help women daily, be it for:

• Reminders of consultations of pregnant women,
• Sale and purchase of products for women farmers,
• Blood banks, security,
• Awareness of sexual reproduction of teenagers,
• Online education courses,
• Etc.

Our action and impact were mainly about showing women how access to their Human Rights could be facilitated by technology (rights to health, education, etc.). The women came together to propose projects and ideas to improve their living conditions in their community. The Digital Marketing workshop that followed was focused on the different techniques of online sales and photography for merchants. We closed the event with the distribution of certificates of participation and T-Shirts for the participants. At the end of the day, our impact was defined by the trust and confidence developed by our participants who even went further by issuing their recommendations on their online safety, while identifying common warning and danger factors online. Our workshop has now encouraged them to denounce the problems and abuses observed mainly in the context of the protection of their (Women and Digital) Rights.

                 Participants sharing what they have learned during the differents workshops of the events.

Our program WETECH4LIFE is definitely important in Cameroon because it allows people and communities to better understand and use digital tools for their development. They become aware of the excesses but also the stakes of the use of Digital in everyday life, whether in terms of security, development, education, etc. In this case, our workshop allowed women to express themselves with confidence to present the dangers of the Internet, but also to identify the problems encountered in their community. The importance of these activities lies moreover in the awareness of the duties and responsibilities, in the social, economic and cultural aspects of Digital Rights in Cameroon.