DIGITAL GOVERNANCE

National Models for Women's Safety Online

Integrating Safety by Design Principles to improve Digital Infrastructure.

Why Online Safety Matters for Women’s Participation
Digital spaces, products, tools, and platforms provide opportunities to advance public and private sector leadership, economic growth, and learning and innovation. Unfortunately, for women, they also harbor risks and harms as they face hostility, abuse, and harassment in digital spaces. Globally, approximately 66% of women have experienced online violence of some kind, and over 85% report having witnessed online violence against other women. In addition to the severe negative impact on individuals targeted with online abuse, it has a “chilling effect” on the future of leadership and undercuts the benefits that women’s participation brings to societies worldwide.
About the National Models for Women’s Safety Online

The National Models for Women’s Safety Online (NMWSO) Program is a catalytic initiative that sought to address threats to women’s engagement and leadership in digital spaces. Together with IREX, DG worked with the public and private sectors and civil society actors in Kenya and the Philippines to document, test, and advance system-level responses to prevent and mitigate online abuse targeting women leaders.

DG led the Philippines portion of the work.

Through direct collaboration with the private sector, NMWSO pushed for the integration of “safety-by-design” principles to improve the security of digital infrastructure at the source. NMWO further engaged national governments to identify and strengthen regulatory pathways that prevent, mitigate, and respond to online violence.

By influencing both corporate design and public policy, the NMWSO programme created a comprehensive framework to ensure that digital spaces remain inclusive, secure, and conducive to women’s voices.

Creating Digital Tools to Connect Citizens to Resources

In March 2026, the NMWSO initiative launched a new tool for women’s online safety in the Philippines, Gabay Tech. Developed in collaboration with government agencies, civil society, and academia, the platform provides Filipinos, especially women and girls, with a clearer path to navigate online harms, report incidents, and connect with the right support services.

Gabay Tech aims to address common challenges faced by survivors of online harm, as research shows many are unsure where to turn, which laws apply, or how to document evidence. The tool provides a clear starting point for survivors, and, through a few simple questions, it helps users understand their situation, guiding them on where to report, what evidence to prepare, how to request content removal, and which institutions can assist.

This open-source tool was formally handed over to Pasig City, a move that will help ensure long-term sustainability of the technology and strengthen the collective response to online harms. Pasig City was the first local government to roll out the platform.

impact

With our partners, DG delivered a Safety-by-Design training curriculum to 453 individuals from 92 organizations, convened 78 regulators across nine events to support cross-agency coordination, and ran a twelve-week Safety-by-Design Grand Challenge whose participants are now organizing to recreate it on their own in 2027. The team also documented more than a dozen technology-provider and public-service pathways available to survivors and handed over its materials to local universities and professional networks so the work can continue beyond the program.