The British Council, in collaboration with the EU-ACT project, has successfully conducted a five-day training programme on digital ethics, policies, and laws for civil society organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria. The programme, which ran from 18th to 22nd September 2023, aimed to equip CSOs with the knowledge and skills to navigate the complex and evolving digital landscape, as well as to advocate for their rights and interests online.

The training programme covered six key topics: compliance with digital ethics, policies, and laws; cyberbullying, cyber-attacks, digital risks, data protection, and privacy; digital advocacy strategies; digital data collection practices; and action planning. The programme provided a template for CSOs to develop SMART plans around each topic, with short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals and activities. The programme also included a guide to working with teams to identify problems, desired outcomes, objectives, tasks, responsibilities, stakeholders, resources, constraints, success criteria, due dates, means of verification, and comments or next steps.

The British Council hopes that the training programme will help CSOs to enhance their digital literacy and competence, as well as to promote a culture of digital ethics and responsibility among their staff and beneficiaries. The programme is part of the EU-ACT project’s efforts to support CSOs in Nigeria to strengthen their capacities and resilience in the face of various challenges.