Fem-Tech: A safe space harbor for internet users. I still remember the validation meeting, printed draft of the toolkit passed from hand to hand, and students, police officers, and civil society representatives all bent over the same pages, arguing over whether a definition was clear enough, whether a law was correctly cited, whether a screenshot instruction actually matched what was on the app. That was before the toolkit, “Claiming Space Online,” was finally launched at the ICT Hub. I was there from that very first editing and suggestions exercise to the grand launch, and watching it grow from a rough draft into a resource that students and the wider public now hold onto is one of the most fulfilling things I have been part of as a student leader.
A Toolkit Born for This Moment
The toolkit comes at a crucial time. Uganda’s internet population is young, mobile, and growing fast, and so is the harm that follows it online. Doxxing, cyberstalking, non-consensual sharing of intimate images, sextortion, deep fakes; these are no longer distant, foreign problems. They are things happening to classmates, roommates, and friends. Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence, or TFGBV, does not announce itself the way physical violence does. It hides behind screens, fake accounts, and “jokes,” which is exactly why so many young people did not know how to name what was happening to them, let alone report it. This toolkit gives that unnamed harm a name, and gives students a way forward.
What It Has Meant for Students
For students, the impact has been personal before it became public. Many of us grew up believing that if there were no bruises, there was no real harm. This toolkit corrects that. It teaches that trauma, anxiety, reputational damage, and self-censorship are real consequences of online abuse, and that survivors deserve to be believed and supported, not questioned or blamed.
Practically, students now have a step-by-step guide for the exact moment abuse happens: capture evidence, do not engage, secure your accounts, and report through the right channel, whether that is the platform itself, the university’s Guild Office and Gender Directorate, the Police Cybercrimes Unit, or the Data Protection Office. Before this toolkit, most of us would have frozen, deleted the evidence out of panic, or simply suffered in silence. Now there is a clear script to follow.
It has also made us more careful digital citizens. Simple habits, like turning on two-factor authentication, locking a SIM card, checking app permissions, and thinking twice before sharing a location or a photo, are now part of everyday conversation on campus, not just theory in a workshop.
Why It Matters Beyond the Student Body
The toolkit was written with students in mind, but its lessons do not stop at the university gate. Every parent, employer, and everyday internet user faces the same risks: phishing, hacking, impersonation, and harassment. By clearly laying out Uganda’s applicable laws, the Computer Misuse Act, the Data Protection and Privacy Act, the Domestic Violence Act, and the Penal Code, the toolkit also strengthens public understanding of what protection already exists, even where gaps remain, such as the absence of a dedicated law on non-consensual intimate images or AI-generated deep fakes. In naming those gaps, the toolkit is quietly shaping the conversation that policymakers will eventually have to join.
The toolkit shifts responsibility outward. Technology platforms, law enforcement, and universities are reminded, in plain language, of their duty to respond promptly, protect survivor privacy, and prevent re-victimization. A society that holds these institutions accountable, rather than placing the full burden of safety on the victim alone, is a healthier one.
My Own Journey
Being part of this process, from editing drafts, sitting through the validation meeting, to standing in the crowd at the Cybersecurity Symposium where the toolkit was finally launched, has changed how I lead. Digital safety is not just for the IT-minded few. It is at the core of student welfare, as basic as sanitation or mental health support. I have watched classmates read the toolkit and immediately recognize their own experience in its pages, sometimes for the first time putting a name to something that had quietly worn them down.
Looking Ahead
A toolkit alone cannot end online abuse. It cannot force a platform to act faster or force a law to be written. But it can, and already has, changed how students see themselves: not as helpless targets, but as informed digital citizens who know their rights and know how to claim them. That shift, multiplied across a student body and then across a society, is how a single toolkit becomes a movement.
