Published on 26 November 2021

Violence against women: leveraging digital technology for prevention and empowerment

Since 2015, our Women’s Digital Centers have helped prevent violence by empowering women. More than 40,000 women in 23 countries have so far benefited from long-term digital training to learn the basics or to train in certain software and web uses, or set up an entrepreneurship project. Some of our Digital Centers also help female victims of violence by giving them the digital keys to get back on their feet. In all cases, they help vulnerable women to rejoin society and find a job.

 

Violences faites aux femmes

 

Examples of prevention and support at Digital Centers

Fundación Ana Bella in Seville, Spain
Founded in 2020, this Digital Center is located at the headquarters of Fundación Ana Bella, which works to help victims of domestic violence.
Its founder, Ana Bella, herself a victim of domestic violence, offers the “Women’s Leadership Survivor Academy” alongside the Digital Center to train women in techniques to support other victims.

ADDSEA, CHRS Le Roseau in Besançon
In the Digital Center at this accommodation and social integration center for women suffering from domestic violence and their children, digital workshops build confidence. They are run by an Orange Solidarity project leader.

Collectif Alpha Ujuvi in DRC

This association in South Kivu, in partnership with W4 (Women’s WorldWide Web), offers training in digital technology and entrepreneurship to young women who have experienced domestic violence. Several of them have won our Amazing Women Award.

Association Solidarité Féminine (ASF) in Casablanca, Morocco
This is the first Digital Center launched in Morocco. It has welcomed women who have been victims of violence since 2017. The founder and chair Ms. Aicha Ech Chenna is well known in the country as a women’s rights advocate for over 30 years.

Association Résonantes in Nantes (France)
The Digital Center at this Association trains women in digital technology. Specific workshops are organized on online harassment and violence.

Digital training to empower women

Like all Orange Foundation Digital Centers, these offer women long-term training (six months to a year). Depending on their needs, they learn the basics (writing, arithmetic, using a computer, and so on), as well as how to use the internet and some business software packages. This training enables them to access paid employment and helps them to find a job, return to work, or retrain for a new career.