Preparing women as policy-makers and cyber-diplomats

By ITU News

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has announced a new initiative to prepare women from developing and middle-income countries for meaningful roles in cybersecurity policy negotiations.

The Her CyberTracks initiative, set to run this year from June to December, with an initial focus on select African and European countries, aims at promoting the equal, full, and meaningful representation of women in cybersecurity, with the aim of creating a more resilient cyberspace for all. Its first edition, it focuses on delivering a comprehensive curriculum on cybersecurity policy-making, and cyber-diplomacy.

“Investing in cyber capacity-building, particularly for women, goes beyond technical proficiency,” says Regine Grienberger, Cyber Ambassador from Germany’s Federal Foreign Office. “It aims at full, equal, and meaningful representation. By empowering women policy-makers and women diplomats in cybersecurity, and amplifying their voices, we unlock a realm of possibilities to safeguard our digital landscape.”

Sponsored by Germany, the new initiative offers targeted cyber capacity-building activities for women involved in national and international cybersecurity policy processes and negotiations. The comprehensive training curriculum seeks “to enable our cybersecurity women leaders of tomorrow.”

Today, those emerging policy-makers and cyber-diplomats struggle with pronounced inequality and continue to encounter steep professional barriers in their heavily male-dominated field.

Her CyberTracks offerings, building on 30 years of gender mainstreaming efforts at ITU, incorporate the well-established Women in Cyber Mentorship Programme, now running in its third year, aiming to enhance its successes and lessons learned.

ITU – the United Nations agency for digital technologies – is committed to achieving gender equality in all areas of its work.

To assemble the first Her CyberTracks cohort, ITU’s development arm asked national governments in two regions facing digital development challenges to nominate suitable women cyber-professionals.

For this first edition, Her CyberTracks seeks participants from ITU Member States in:

• Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo
• Europe: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Ukraine

Her Cyber Tracks was launched by the Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau, Dr Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, and is managed within the ITU Development Sector.

The three-part initiative – with Build, Inspire, and Empower components – will incorporate online and on-site training sessions in cybersecurity policy and diplomacy, simulation exercises in negotiation, as well as training in the soft skills needed to meaningfully participate in key policy-making processes.

Participating women can also attend guided monthly mentorship circles, inspirational keynotes promoting role models, and regional networking events as part a complementary one-stop holistic policy and diplomacy curriculum.

As Germany’s Cyber Ambassador, Grienberger is emphasizing the transformative potential of the Her CyberTracks initiative.

“We foster diversity, inclusivity, and innovation – ultimately fortifying our collective defenses against cyber threats,” she says. “Let us unite, bridge the gender gap, and forge a safer and more resilient digital future together.”

Promoting women’s leadership across ITU

Each key sector of ITU’s work includes a dedicated networking, mentoring, and knowledge-sharing network.

Everyone in ITU’s Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) preparing for the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-23) later this year. The Network of Women for WRC-23 (NOW4WRC23) has promoted mentorship pairings and continues calling for more women in leadership roles at the conference.

In ITU’s Standardization Sector (ITU-T), the Women in Standardization Expert Group (WISE) promotes active participation, contribution, and leadership of women in all aspects of ITU standards development activities and processes, as well as to create a stronger base for women in the digital technology industry.

In ITU’s Development Sector (ITU-D), another dedicated Network of Women was active and visible at last year’s World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC) in Kigali, Rwanda, and continues to promote gender mainstreaming in a wide range of digital development initiatives.