The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), with support from the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), has concluded a two-day training workshop aimed at strengthening gender and environmental perspectives in Nigeria’s digital policy space.
The workshop, titled “Engendering and Greening Digital Policies,” was held in Kano from Dec. 8 to Dec. 9 and brought together civil society organisations, digital rights activists, and advocates of gender and environmental justice.
Declaring the workshop open, Hamza Ibrahim, who represented CITAD’s Executive Director, Malam Y. Z. Ya’u, described the training as timely and critical to Nigeria’s digital transformation journey.
Ibrahim said the initiative was designed to ensure that digital policies in the country do not reinforce existing inequalities or undermine environmental sustainability.
“Our digital future must be inclusive and environmentally responsible. This training is part of our commitment to ensuring that gender justice and climate concerns are not treated as afterthoughts in policy-making,” he said.
Earlier, the Project Officer, Fatima Babakura, said the workshop was structured to build participants’ capacities in two major areas: greening digital policies and engendering advocacy.
According to her, the greening component focuses on promoting environmentally sustainable approaches to technology development and governance, while the engendering aspect seeks to embed feminist and climate justice lenses into policy and advocacy frameworks.
“This workshop is equipping participants with practical tools to analyse, influence and reshape digital policies so they can become more inclusive and sustainable,” Babakura said.
She added that participants took part in expert-led sessions, interactive discussions and collaborative exercises designed to provide hands-on experience in applying gender and climate justice frameworks to existing digital policies.
Babakura said key issues addressed during the training included Nigeria’s digital transformation agenda, the gender digital divide, the environmental footprint of digital infrastructure and advocacy strategies for meaningful policy change.
One of the facilitators, Saleh Umar Anka, Director of Climate Change at the Kano State Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, stressed the importance of aligning digital development with climate goals.
“Technology has a significant environmental footprint, and policy actors must begin to factor climate impacts into digital planning and implementation. A climate-sensitive digital agenda is essential for sustainable development,” Anka said.
He commended CITAD and APC for creating a platform that links digital rights, gender inclusion and climate action.
The workshop forms part of CITAD’s ongoing initiative, “Greening and Feminist Centering of the National Digital Transformation Agenda,” which seeks to promote an equitable and ecologically responsible approach to Nigeria’s digital advancement.