GOVERNOR ANNE WAIGURU LAUNCHES STOP CYBER BULLYING CAMPAIGN

Governor Waiguru Launches Stop Cyber Bullying Campaign

By Eric Ogott, Special Correspondent

Echo Network Africa (ENA) convened a

Pre-International Women’s Day event to

discuss the theme “Digital: Innovation

and Technology for Gender Equality”.

This is aligned with the priority theme

for the upcoming 67th Session of the

Commission on the Status of Women (CSW-

67), “Innovation and technological

change and education, in the

digital age for achieving gender

equality and the empowerment of all

women and girls”

The meeting was graced by the

Chairperson Council of Governors and

Kirinyaga County Governor Hon. Anne

Mumbi Waiguru.

“From the onset, allow me to pass my

immense congratulations to the

Echo Network Africa and Dr. Jennifer

Riria for this auspicious moment.

Echo Network has worked tirelessly in

finding solutions to the issues

women and girls are impacted by and

providing sustainable solutions

such as improved access to education,

eradicating negative sociocultural

norms, opportunities for women

leadership and financing. For that, I

celebrate you.

Today, as we get near to International

Women’s Day, 8th March, we come

together to celebrate the achievements

of women across the world and to

acknowledge the challenges that we

still face. This year’s theme,

“Digital: Innovation and Technology for

Gender Equality,” highlights the power

of technology to help us overcome some

of these challenges.” Said Governor

Anne Mumbi of Kirinyaga County.

The Governor who was the Chief Guest

also noted that, launching the

campaign , meant they now speak with

one voice and call out cyber bullying

for the crime that it is and remind all

that they have a role to play in

eliminating it.

From a true human perspective, the

words Cyber bullying do not come close

to capturing the severity and lasting

impacts for the victims and

survivors.

She further observed that women have

been over time harassed while using the

Digital space. The use of Bad words

towards them, photos was also an issue.

Even fewer interventions aim to

prevent technology facilitated GBV. The

solutions that do exist tend to focus

on supporting victims/survivors to

report and document their experiences

and on connecting them to

community and institutional support

services.

The speed at which access to

technologies is rapidly spreading has

far outpaced the policy efforts of

governments and other stakeholders to

monitor or control the harmful usage of

these gadgets, particularly in

developing countries like ours, where

dealing with cyber bullying is not

among the top priorities, even though

it is recognized as a problem.

She also added that,”despite the

challenges, we must not be deterred

from using technology to advance gender

equality. Instead, we must work

together to create safe and inclusive

digital spaces that empower women and

girls to fully participate in all

aspects of society. Let us courageously

continue to use technology to amplify

women’s voices, connect women to new

opportunities and resources and break

down barriers that prevent women from

reaching their full potential.”