The Digital Rights Advocacy training was a four day event organized by EngageMedia. The training was attended by participants from 7 different countries in the Asia Pacific region, namely – Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Maldives, Nepal, Philippines and Sri Lanka. During each of these sessions the organizers dealt with various aspects related to advocating for rights and at the same time encouraged the participants to share their own experiences in their respective countries.
The first day of the training consisted of introductions among the participants, organizers and the trainers followed by a rundown of the entire training design. Afterwards, the participants were asked to share the safety concerns related to advocating for digital rights in their respective countries. The session concluded with a discussion on the Three-Part Test, a three fold test that is used to determine the validity of a law. On the second day of the training the participants got to learn how to strategize our digital rights advocacy efforts and how to achieve engagement with government agencies. The third day of the training focused on engaging with the private sector including identifying how the private sector can contribute towards the fulfillment of digital rights and aligning the policy priorities of the private sector with digital rights advocacy. The fourth day of the training was a culmination of the learnings from the previous two days and working together for the feedback submission of the Internet We Want.
All four days of the training consisted of numerous interactive sessions and group works. During these group works the participants were divided into 2 groups and they had to come up with advocacy strategies for the various scenarios provided by the organizers. During these exercises the participants discussed the strategies that have worked in their own countries. The most eye opening part of the whole training was how similar the problems faced by all the countries were. For instance, all 7 participants could relate to their countries having laws that justified overbearing surveillance using national security. These group activities helped the participants identify common problems and exchange ideas and strategies that they have applied in their own countries. All in all it was a great network building initiative along with being a training program.