Regional workshop on Mitigating gendered hate speech opens in Nairobi

This morning, on behalf of the Executive Secretary of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), Flaviana Nayatta officially launched the Regional Workshop on Compiling Lexicons for the Detection, Monitoring, and Mitigation of Gender-Based Hatred in the Great Lakes Region.

The 3-day workshop taking place in Nairobi and organized by ICGLR in collaboration with German Development Cooperation (GIZ) aims to build a multilingual lexicon database of gendered hate speech for the Great Lakes Region which will be a curated catalogue of offensive words, slurs, insinuations, memes and emojis used to target women and others online. 

The Regional workshop brings together researchers, journalists, social media influencers, women rights activists, hate speech analysts, government officials and other partners from ICGLR Member States - Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Central African Republic. 

Participants at the Regional Technical workshop will also co-create an AI-powered, multilingual lexicon to detect and monitor gendered hate speech online. This initiative seeks to strengthen early warning systems and promote safer, inclusive digital spaces.