Women in Cyber (WiC) Mentorship Programme

Summary

The Women in Cyber Mentorship Programme is a three-part programme featured guided monthly mentorship circles with supporting activities, including a series of inspirational webinars and technical and soft skills training courses. All activities were delivered online over the course of six (6) months, from March to August 2021.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) and  EQUALS​, the global partnership for gender equality in the digital age of which ITU is a co-founder, jointly organize the Women in Cyber Mentorship Programme for empowering women in the cybersecurity sector. The programme engages role models and leaders in this field, and connects them with talented women worldwide. The Women in Cyber Mentorship Programme builds on and benefits from the ongoing efforts of ITU-BDT to close the digital gender divide, by mainstreaming gender-focused activities within our different thematic priorities.

The programme is an outcome of the CyberDrill 2020 Empowering Women in Cybersecurity Webinar, where the need for role models and mentorship was identified as pivotal for increasing the number of women leaders in cybersecurity.

Details

The Programme focused on three (3) main structural points:

• INSPIRE: Four (4) Inspirational Keynote Webinars: Featured speakers are well-known women in cybersecurity showcasing their career paths, hence promoting role models and the perception of women as valuable additions to the cybersecurity workforce.

• TRAIN: Six (6) Technical and Soft Skills Online Trainings: Training courses to provide participants with the various technical and soft skills needed for professional and personal development.

• EMPOWER: Six (6) Mentorship Circle Sessions: Live mentorship circle sessions to provide participants a platform to further explore and discuss professional and personal development topics with high-level women in cybersecurity.