World Pulse Digital Ambassadors, a group of more than 150 leaders from 30 countries, are bridging the gender-digital divide and bringing previously marginalized voices online. In 2022, they trained more than 18,000 women in digital changemaking skills across the world.

This March, Digital Ambassadors kicked off their 2023 efforts on International Women’s Day, holding “trainathon” events using a new World Pulse-developed curriculum.

Trainathon events are part of World Pulse's commitment to building grassroots momentum around bridging the gender digital divide through the Her Digital Leadership Alliance. The collaborative project was launched by World Pulse and dozens of business, government, women’s rights, and digital rights partners as a five-year commitment to equip 20,000 grassroots women leaders with digital leadership, advocacy, and trainer skills.

“The trainathon gave ambassadors room for bridging a major divide between access to the internet and work offline,” said Kirthi Jayakumar, Head of Training at World Pulse and Founder of the Gender Security Project. “They are reaching women in historically excluded communities where access to the internet remains challenging.”

Trainathon events brought groups of women and girls together to take a World Pulse training on any of its current offerings: Basic and Advanced Digital Skills, Safety and Security, Social Entrepreneurship, Digital Storytelling, and Online Advocacy. Participants watched videos and took live lessons, with the opportunity to finish assignments within a month to obtain certificates of completion.

The intention of the trainathon was to offer accessible, easy, and comprehensive content in the form of massive open online courses. Participants can then use the internet as a site for their leadership and skill-building to reach their communities and start a business or social enterprise.

Founder of InspireIt Adanna Ononiwu reflected on a World Pulse trainathon event she held in a village called Umuoda Nguru in Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area (LGA) of Imo State in Nigeria:

"Looking at the faces of the women as I explained what digital literacy means and why it is an important skill in today's world, I pondered on two things: 1) If safe spaces are enough for these women to thrive in a community and environment like the one where I chose to celebrate International Women's Day, 2) Could a safe space be a potential ‘ideal solution" to bridging the huge digital divide at the grassroots level?’”

Regina Afanwi Young, Founder of the Association for the Empowerment of the Deaf and Vulnerable Persons in Cameroon, described the importance of training women with disabilities during the trainathon.

“For several years now, I have been working hard to get the women and girls with disabilities with whom I work digitally empowered so they can access online opportunities safely,” Regina said. “This has had a considerable positive impact on their livelihood. When the opportunity showed up to be trained as a trainaton facilitator, I thought it was amazing.”

Trainathons fit into a larger training strategy, including the Digital Empowerment Training Suite, self-led digital modules for World Pulse members designed to deliver digital changemaking skills to women and girls. World Pulse also facilitates monthly training calls called Training Tuesdays that foster connection and real-time support.

World Pulse welcomes expressions of interest to participate in the Her Digital Leadership Alliance or to host a training for your constituents. Click here to contact us.