View source for Gender and Technology Institute, Ecuador

{{Activities
|Title of the activity=Gender and Technology Institute
|Category=Privacy Advocacy, Digital Security, Gender and Tech
|Start when ?=2016/06/19
|End when ?=2016/06/24
|Number of hours if only one day ?=40 hours
|Where is located the activity ?=World level for international activities
|Geo-localization of the activity ?=-0.1806532, -78.4678382
|Who organize it=Tactical Technology Collective with support local organisation Sentimos Diverso
|organisation(s) website=https://tacticaltech.org/
http://www.sentimosdiverso.org/
|For whom is it organized=Women activist, Women Human RIghts Defenders,  Trans people
|How many people trained=58
|Motivations for organizing training=At the end of June 2016, 58 women and trans persons - human rights advocates, feminists, techies, activists – meet in a beautiful venue located near Quito (Ecuador) for five days of training, collaboration and discussion. The Gender and Technology Institute resulted into an inspiring event full of creativity, networking and laughs profoundly engaged with the desire to rethink our relation to technologies,  and advance autonomy and social justice for all.

Why a Gender and Technology Institute in Latino America?

The problem of online harassment and threats against women and their collaborators, coming from both governments and non-state individuals and groups, has become more visible in the last few years. These threats trap many women between the use of the internet crucial to their work and/or activism in raising awareness, organising actions,  documenting and conducting outreach on one hand, and the constant tracking, surveillance, and harassment on the other. Internet and social media platforms can be dangerous as they enable, expand or mirror (old and new) forms of violence that leads to women's work and voices being deleted, self-censored and actively prevented from being seen, heard or read.

Over the years feedback we have received from applicants and participants to our Gender and Technology Institutes show that among the women targeted by gender-based violence, Woman Human Rights Defenders (WHRD) and LGTBQI activists working on gender social justice and feminist issues, or sensitive topics, such as health, reproductive and sexual rights are particularly at risk. Moreover, vocal women, such as politicians, journalists, bloggers engaged in political or gender issues are also facing various forms of online and offline violence. 

A preparatory event held in Nicaragua in April which counted with 12 WHRDs, women activists and digital security trainers worked together towards planning the event. Facilitation methodologies, design of sessions and agenda planning, in addition to establishing the means to reach out to participants and criteria for selecting them were discussed during this three days meeting. Another key element addressed was discussing the overall security of the event and how to create a safe space and ensure an atmosphere of well being and trust before, during and after the GTI. 

Our aim with this GTI was to build upon our current curricula by adapting it to some of the specific risks, needs and agency of WHRD and women and trans people activists located in the LAC region. We also aimed at expanding our current curricula and facilitate and follow up on the activities organised by participants after the GTI. 

210 applications in two weeks

Through a process of rigorous review,  210 applications were pared down to 46 participants coming from a wide range of countries, including Ecuador, Colombia, Perú, México, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Brasil, Chile, Venezuela, Argentina, Santo Domingo and Honduras.

We also had a great group of 12 facilitators, who came also from LAC countries and organisations such as Consorcio Oaxaca, EnRedas and Mujeres al Borde (as well as Tactical Tech); add the logistics team with our local partner in Ecuador, Sentimos Diverso, and some visitors, and we were over 60 persons in total.
|Topics addressed=Oriented Action Curricula and Learning Spaces

Throughout this five days event, participants were involved in different tracks such as digital security, politics of data, gender and tech, holistic security, training skills and self care. The first day was spent with all the participants together in order to reflect on our gender and intersectional experience of technologies and moving forward towards an analysis of risks and learning needs. Mitigation strategies that were already in place where shared among participants and then we held the first live show of the Radio Berta Caceres (launched during the GTI) in which some of the facilitators shared about their background, experiences and motivations to engage in privacy and security trainings. We ended our first day with an install-party that enable us to install, uninstall and mix free and open source software, freedoms, gender codes and our own set of experiences and knowledge among ourselves.  

The following days encompass four structured learning moments. Those offered two or three sessions on different topics held at the same time. The fourth learning moment took place at the end of the afternoon and participants could choose between stand alone talks, going hands on, making radio programs or attending self care sessions in a kiosk surrounded by a beautiful light.

Those learning sessions moments were also complemented with skill-sharing sessions among participants, sport and night activities such as documentaries screenings, performances and cabarets. Evenings were also when the self-organised and popular feminist hackerspace got going, which became the go-to place to gain knowledge and share skills around practical tech stuff in a chilled-out atmosphere.

Some of the sessions delivered during the GTI included “Migrating to Gnu/Linux, Imagining a feminist internet, Digital security basics (presented like an airplane security film), Pimp your browser, Metadata, Understand alternatives (to commercial software), Malware and servers attacks, Detecting IMSI-Catcher, Politizing Facebook, Creative uses of social media (for campaigns and advocacy), Mobile security, The Amnesic Incognito Live System, Planning training activities in unknown environments, Create safe spaces for learning about tech, Documenting and reporting violence, Developing self-care, etc

Finally, the last afternoon was devoted to regional and thematic rights organisations working in groups for seeing possible actions and synergies they could establish after the GTI, to evaluate the event and to decide in a plenary the next steps for  documentation, keeping in touch, and developing a network of support and solidarity. 

The methodological framework adopted during the GTI was based on the basic principles of adult learning. This was complemented with feminist approaches  engaging in methods, such as shaping safe spaces, understanding ones privileges, putting attention on power and inequitable relationships, creating nurturing and inclusive processes for reflection, exchanges and learning.

And because a GTI is never complete without a lot of dancing and loud group singing, on Friday night we put many fairy-lights dresses and enjoyed a great Pacha Queer hosted party with one-night-only performances including great hits as the song Software Libre.

While everyone was no doubt ready for some rest and quiet by the end of the week, those feelings were mixed with sad goodbyes. From our side, we learned a lot and hope that those of you who were there did too. Big thanks to our collaborators and to all our facilitators and to everyone who travelled to join the event; we're excited to see new partnerships emerge. Thanks also to everyone who applied - the selection process involved some tough decisions. We are, however, currently working on supporting and developing similar, more regional events in other countries, so there will hopefully be more opportunities in future.
|Upload content=Feministhackerspace.JPG
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{{Planning and documentation
|Detailed schedule and contents=We will publish about it very soon!
|Methodologies for training=We will publish about it very soon!
|Existing toolkits and resources=We will publish about it very soon!
}}
{{Learning outcomes
|Feelings=El IGT no habría podido ser sin la energía, cariño, testarudez y el trabajo increíble de las siguientes personas y organizaciones. Nuestro agradecimiento total por haber aceptado acompañarnos en construir ese IGT juntas. Gracias también a las participantes por atender el IGT y mostrarse tan generosas. Seguimos!

Colectivo organizador del IGT en Ecuador, Sentimos Diverso
Apoyo logístico, GIZ Ecuador 
Apoyo facilitación, Consorcio Oaxaca
Apoyo fiesta clausura, Pachaqueer
Colectivo organizador del evento preparatorio en Nicaragua, EnRedadas
Organizaciones presentes en el evento preparatorio: Article 19, Consorcio Oaxaca,  GIZ Ecuador, Fundación Karisma, Fondo de Acción Urgente Latino americano, JASS – Just Associates Mesoamerica.
Así como agradecer a todas las facilitadoras del IGT:
Diana Elizabeth Castellanos Leal (Gabrielle Esteban) – Sentimos Diverso
Loreto Chamaka 
Emilie De Wolf - Consorcio Oaxaca - http://consorciooaxaca.org.mx/
Lucía Egaña Rojas
Andrea Figari - Tactical Tech Collective
Marta Florencia Goldsman - Grupo Gig@ (UFBA)
Isabel González Ramírez - Sentimos Diverso
Fieke Jansen - Tactical Tech Collective
Hask/Gema Jiménez
Ling Luther - Tactical Tech Collective
Gema Manzanares - EnRedadas
Lu Ortiz - Nova México
Mayeli Sanchez Martinez
Hedme Sierra-Castro
Erika Smith – APC 
Pedro Soler
}}