“The majority of my students’ time outside of class is spent online”, says 26-year-old Marwa, a dynamic science teacher who teaches Biology, Chemistry, and Physics to middle and high school students in Tripoli, North Lebanon. In her efforts to actively raise awareness on making digital spaces safer for her students, Marwa did not hesitate to participate in the UNFPA-supported community consultation sessions on combating technology-facilitated gender-based violence. She is one of 511 community members who attended 15 sessions with UNFPA’s partner ‘FEMALE, a woman organization, ’ to learn about online gender-based violence and effective prevention strategies. Funded by the Central Emergency Relief Fund (CERF), this six-month project aimed at raising awareness on online violence where facilitators implemented awareness-raising sessions across schools in Tripoli reaching 2,154 girls and boys aged between 10 and 17 years.

Marwa teaches around 20 students, with many of them confiding in her about personal online encounters such as hacking and blackmail. “I now have the actual knowledge to guide them on how to prevent and effectively report such incidents”, says Marwa. Not only was Marwa able to direct her students, but as a young woman herself, she learned about preventative measures that she can also take to mitigate possible online violence, including establishing robust passwords, refraining from sharing her location, and avoiding sharing private information on her social media accounts.

In 2023, more than 3,100 cases of online violence were reported in Lebanon, 70% of whom are women between 15 and 50 years old. “Awareness raising on reporting mechanisms is extremely important”, says Marwa, who guided her students on utilizing several mechanisms including ISF’s violence-reporting platform ‘Ballegh 211’, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education’s hotline for violence, and other helplines. Following these sessions, one of her students reached out to FEMALE’s hotline for support after experiencing online harassment, where she received essential guidance on digital safety and was provided with resources to protect herself.

In addition to raising awareness, the project also aims to shape policies that create safer online environments. As such, FEMALE developed a policy document on protection from online violence. The policy was strongly supported by Member of Parliament, Halima Kaakour, who pledged to introduce a parliamentary law based on its findings.