Between September 2025 and March 2026, the independent non-profit organisation Jokkolabs Banjul trained 400 women and girls across four regions of The Gambia: West Coast, Upper River, Lower River and Central River. Through eight Digital Rights and Literacy Workshops, participants learned about safe internet use, online privacy, data protection, digital gender-based violence prevention, and responsible media engagement.
In each region, the workshops successfully equipped 100 participants, including market vendors, farmers, students and community members, with essential digital skills. In an era where digital tools are vital for economic opportunity and education, teaching women how to navigate mobile devices and access information safely directly enhanced their ability to improve livelihoods, stay safe online and participate fully in civic life.
Building a grounded approach
The project achieved remarkable success by delivering culturally adapted digital literacy training, community radio engagement and grassroots peer mentorship. Rather than abstract theory, the sessions focused on practical applications like using WhatsApp for business, mobile banking, agricultural information and accessing government services, with adaptations based on regional needs. Incorporating feedback from past initiatives, the training included extended hands-on practice, local language tutorials, and culturally relevant examples to ensure maximum accessibility.
In the end, participants demonstrated increased awareness of online safety, data protection and gender-based violence prevention, while expressing strong interest in further digital tool usage for livelihood enhancement and community engagement.
Across all four regions, community radio training enhanced the capacity of 10 local broadcasters per region, both men and women, to develop gender-sensitive programming, promote women’s rights and counter misinformation. Participants learned advanced interview techniques, storytelling and editorial strategies. The programme also emphasised participatory content creation, ethical journalism and countering misinformation, resulting in more inclusive and representative media coverage.
Furthermore, in each region, 20 women were trained as community peer mentors. These mentors now form a sustainable grassroots network capable of facilitating learning circles and continued skills sharing in local languages long after the project’s conclusion.
Fostering more inclusive digital futures
The activities were highly relevant to the communities because they addressed critical gaps in digital literacy, gender equality and civic participation, which are essential for supporting women and girls in rural and underserved areas. The most significant change among the beneficiaries has been the substantial increase in digital literacy and awareness of digital rights, particularly among women and girls in the regions. This transformation is significant because it helps women to access crucial information, engage in mobile banking, promote their small businesses and participate more actively in civic and community discussions.
These shifts in knowledge and skills also foster greater confidence and autonomy, enabling women to challenge traditional gender roles, advocate for their rights and contribute to social and economic development within their communities. Such changes not only improve individual quality of life by opening new opportunities for income, education and civic engagement, but also lay the foundation for more inclusive and gender-equitable social norms, ultimately strengthening community resilience and fostering long-term positive social change.
Jokkolabs Banjul plans to build on the successes of this project, supported by APC’s impact grants in 2025, by integrating digital literacy and women’s empowerment into broader community development initiatives. Leveraging its outcomes, such as the established peer mentor and broadcaster networks, will help the organisation to facilitate ongoing capacity building, mentorship and regional knowledge-sharing platforms. New opportunities include expanding digital inclusion efforts to remaining Gambian regions.
Learning from this experience, one common challenge was the persistent issues with internet connectivity, high data costs and unreliable electricity infrastructure, which hampered the delivery of training and ongoing practice for participants. In future activities, investing drastically in infrastructure, such as establishing community digital centres with shared devices and reliable power sources, could greatly enhance access and sustained engagement. Based on the feedback from participants, extending the duration of training and incorporating more follow-up sessions over several months would support deeper learning and practical application of skills.
If scaling this project, some beneficial changes would also be integrating targeted male engagement and broader community sensitisation from the outset, which could help address social barriers and foster greater support for women’s digital participation. Stronger formal partnerships with government ministries and the private sector could also be a way to embed digital literacy into existing national programmes, ensuring sustainability and wider reach beyond the project’s initial scope.
Meanwhile, the success of the programme lies in its context-specific design, which incorporates local languages, cultural norms and community-led mentorship, making it relevant and sustainable.
Other organisations could adapt this framework by tailoring content to local needs, leveraging existing community structures and addressing logistical challenges such as connectivity and transportation. Additionally, the use of participatory training methods, peer mentorship and community radio integration provides scalable models for engaging marginalised groups effectively.
This model’s emphasis on community ownership and capacity building ensures that the benefits extend beyond the project duration, making it a practical blueprint for fostering inclusive digital and social empowerment in diverse settings.
Poncelet O. Ileleji is a computer scientist by profession with over 25 years in the field. He is the CEO of Jokkolabs Banjul, an independent non-profit organisation that is an open innovation ecosystem and a virtual cluster for social transformation based on an organic community of entrepreneurs and a network of innovation centres.
Photos: Training activities in Basse, Upper River Region (URR). Courtesy of Jokkolabs Banjul.
This piece is a version of information shared by Jokkolabs Banjul as part of the project "Amplified Voices of 400 Women and Girls in Rural Gambia" for the "Seeding Change" column. This column presents the experiences of APC members and partners who were recipients of funding through APC's subgranting programmes, supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and of subgrants offered through other APC projects.
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