CAPACITY BUILDING FOR SYRIAN CIVIL SOCIETY

The internet is a lifeline for Syrian civil society organisations (CSOs). CSOs rely on the internet  to organise, distribute aid, teach women and youth, and provide emergency support. Our Cyber Security and Remediation audits (CyberSAR) build the capacity of CSOs to protect their data, use the internet safely, and provide educational content to Syrian women and youth.

Syrian humanitarian and community actors need the internet to function. Local non-government organisations (NGOs) are able to help people on the ground because they are backed by large, external NGOs. Access to a safe and secure internet is what makes this assistance possible.

The prolonged conflict has been extremely disruptive for education. In providing women and youth with education, Syrian civil society has stepped up to fill this gap, using the internet.

These groups are increasingly targeted through cyberspace by a range of actors. A cyber-security breach can have serious cascading effects: operations can be compromised, information can be lost or stolen, staff members as well as partners and beneficiaries can be put at extreme risk.

Non-violent Syrians must understand the risks posed online, and become better able to protect themselves. And yet, most CSOs — and their individual staff members — often lack adequate capacity to identify, respond to, and mitigate the risks of operating within a digital warfront. Digital threats manifest across multiple and distributed channels, through targeted attacks, profiling of personnel and supports, and theft of sensitive information. SalamaTech can help. Through institutional audits, ongoing digital security training and remediation support, SalamaTech aims to provide Syrian CSOs with the tools, resources and information to protect their staff’s data and information while at rest and in transit in the field.

At the same time, Syrian CSOs need support in finding and translating appropriate educational material to help fill the gap of more traditional learning institutions forced to close due to the conflict. SalamaTech helps to foster learning on digital literacy skills by finding, translating and preparing new learning material on related subjects.

SalamaTech first responders work with grassroots and established Syrian CSOs to respond to digital threats and emergencies, develop digital safety policies based on best practices for the Syrian environment, and raise awareness about the consequences of poor digital safety practices.