Her CyberTracks: a transformative journey to inspire and empower women in cybersecurity

Her CyberTracks: a transformative journey to inspire and empower women in cybersecurity

“The Her CyberTracks initiative was an amazing platform to reach out to women in a similar situation to me – women who want to see a future in cyber diplomacy and policymaking, who want to make a difference. And all of us have the same goal: to enhance our knowledge; to share our experience; to make the community bigger and friendlier for everybody,” said Cristina Jovmir, Head, Information Technology and Cyber Security Service (CERT), Republic of Moldova, a mentor in the 2023 edition of ITU’s Her CyberTracks initiative.

This is not the only transformative story of empowerment and change achieved by women who participated in the Her CyberTracks initiative, which aims to address gender, skills, and workforce gaps by enabling, inspiring, and empowering women to be cybersecurity leaders and changemakers.

2023: a successful pilot initiative takes shape

The first edition benefited over 100 women in policymaking or diplomacy, information and communication technology (ICT), and cybersecurity from 21 countries in Africa and Europe.

The initiative focused on a single Policy & Diplomacy CyberTrack. It offered a blend of online self-paced training courses, live technical and soft skills live session trainings, hands-on exercises, personalized mentorship, and inspirational webinars showcasing successful women in the cybersecurity field, as well as two regional Forums in Montenegro and Ghana.

The initiative worked on a mentorship model in which junior professionals with two or three years of experience participated as ‘mentees,’ while senior professionals served as ‘mentors.’

93% of participants reported being “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with the training programme.

“Participating in the Her CyberTracks initiative has been an incredibly transformative experience for me. The initiative’s dedication to empowering women in the realms of policymaking and cyber diplomacy at both the national and international levels was undeniably successful,” said Chioma Andeh from Nigeria, who was working as a Cybersecurity Consultant at the time of her participation in the 2023 edition of Her CyberTracks. “This initiative has had a profound impact on my career trajectory, igniting a newfound passion for the cyber diplomacy arena.” She is currently working as an Open-source Intelligence Analyst for the US State Department.

Growing curriculum, bigger impact: the 2024 edition

The impact of the initiative can also be measured by the number of women returning to join in 2024 – including Dr Fifatin C. Toho, Vice-President of Arcep, Benin, and Her CyberTracks mentor in 2023 and 2024.

“The five months of activities in various modules allowed me not only to strengthen my capacities in cybersecurity and cyber diplomacy but also to interact with women decision-makers and professionals from various backgrounds. It was an opportunity to establish skills partnerships and share new practices and realities, an opportunity to unite efforts to achieve the objectives of women’s representation in the digital space,” said Dr Toho.

The 2024 edition of the Her CyberTracks initiative was implemented via the ITU Academy platform, the main online gateway to ITU’s capacity development activities, and had almost 200 participants from 45 countries. It began in mid-June 2024 and it was successfully concluded at the end of October 2024.

In addition to the Policy & Diplomacy CyberTrack from the 2023 edition, the curriculum grew in 2024 to include two new tailored CyberTracks—Incident Response and Criminal Justice—available as specialized learning paths on the ITU Academy. Two regional Her CyberTracks Forums in Albania and Ghana also took place.

Ekaterine Imedadze, Commissioner, Georgian National Communications Commission, who participated as a Her CyberTracks mentor in 2023 and 2024, believes that partnering to inspire and empower women in cyber security will result in more equal and meaningful representation of women in leadership roles.

“I am proud and delighted to have joined Her CyberTracks as a mentor for a second year. Her CyberTracks is a powerful platform to support the equal, full and meaningful representation of women in the cybersecurity field,” said Ms Imedadze. “The mentoring programme works particularly well in helping women gain knowledge and skills in areas that would be otherwise difficult to obtain.”

Echoing this, Dr Ermira Idrizi, Assistant Professor at the South East European University, Republic of North Macedonia – a Her CyberTracks mentee in 2023 and mentor in 2024 – described how the Her CyberTracks initiative had a positive impact in her technical skills as well as professional development.

“The initiative’s diverse modules deepened my understanding of cybersecurity, especially in areas like threat intelligence, incident response and security policy development. The hands-on project really allowed me to apply theoretical knowledge to real world problems,” said Dr Idrizi. “Since I participated in both the 2023 and 2024 editions, I have gained a stronger professional network, and they have provided me with greater visibility in the cybersecurity network.”

“This initiative not only equipped me with technical skills but also empowered me to advocate for more inclusivity, especially for women in the cybersecurity space,” she added.

There is no doubt that the Her CyberTracks initiative will continue to inspire women to thrive as leaders and changemakers in cybersecurity.

Watch the testimonials below to learn more!

This is an ITU Development #DigitalImpactUnlocked story

About Her CyberTracks

Her CyberTracks is an initiative designed to provide comprehensive training to women in cybersecurity. It combines face-to-face trainings, online live sessions, self-paced courses, personalized mentorship, and inspirational webinars. The initiative aims to enable women to acquire technical and soft skills, inspire them through successful role models, empower them through tailored mentorship, and create a supportive community.

Her CyberTracks is anchored by three core pillars:

TRAIN, delivering a mix of self-paced and face-to-face courses, along with hands-on exercises to develop both technical and soft skills;

MENTOR, pairing participants with experienced mentors for personal and professional growth;

INSPIRE, offering motivational keynotes and networking events.

Funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, Her CyberTracks is co-implemented by the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

For more details about Her CyberTracks, visit the Her CyberTracks website.

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