CcHUB convened a continent-wide conversation on International Women’s Day 2026 to examine how online violence is silencing women—and what Africa must do to reclaim its civic future.

On 8 March 2026, CcHUB hosted a virtual roundtable titled “Silence by Design: Civic Space and Women’s Silenced Voices.” The conversation gathered three remarkable voices: Sherylle Dass, Regional Director of the Legal Resources Centre and a public-interest litigator of 24 years; Blessing Oladunjoye, award-winning investigative journalist and co-founder of the Human Rights Journalist Network of Nigeria; and Professor Geci Karuri-Sabina, ICT & SDG Chair at the University of the Witwatersrand and one of the continent’s foremost researchers on innovation and futures. Together, they confronted an uncomfortable truth: the digital civic space — once celebrated as freedom’s new frontier — is increasingly being engineered to keep women silent.

The conversation was timely, urgent, and deeply African in its orientation. With the United Nations theme for International Women’s Day (IWD) 2026 being Rights, Justice, Action for All Women and Girls, CcHUB chose to centre the discussion precisely where the most friction exists — at the intersection of technology, power, and gendered harm.