Mandera to Busia: Addressing TFGBV and Mental Health in Digital Spaces

By Cherie Oyier

It has been a busy but fulfilling two weeks for me tembearing Kenya from Mandera to Busia with one mission; to spread awareness on safe tech use by highlighting the ills of technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) and its impact on mental health.

The Invisible Harm: TFGBV and Mental Health Neglect

One of the main lessons we have learnt through our work at KICTANet is that the impact of TFGBV is often trivialised or disregarded completely. This is attributed to the fact that for the most part, the effect is often invisible; affecting the mental. Even when such impacts manifest as physical harms they are likely to be attributed or associated with other causes. This is exacerbated by the historical and cultural nuances around issues of mental health as a whole and the weight attached to it. As a result, the nexus between TFGBV and mental health has received little spotlight even though more people continue to use technology and harms continue to evolve in these spaces.

As we headed to Mandera and Busia, we were cognizant of the knowledge gap that exists among the different key stakeholders involved in TFGBV including law enforcement, health officers as well as those directly and indirectly affected. For this reason, our objective was to train police officers and health workers working in the various sub-counties and women and girls from both counties.

Mandera’s Digital Landscape: TikTok, Surveillance, and Security Concerns

In Mandera, despite the network fluctuating occasionally and bouncing to the Ethiopian and Somalia networks, participants informed us of the rampant usage of various social media platforms. We were pleasantly surprised about how popular TikTok is in those neck of the woods. Women participants also revealed to us that due to security issues, law enforcement has a bit more access to monitoring and surveillance tools that are sometimes abused when husbands and lovers pay the law enforcement officers to surveil their women. This induces anxiety, not to mention that such actions expose them to physical harm.

Busia’s Closed Platforms: WhatsApp, Telegram, and Online Abuse

In Busia, participants highlighted the rampant abuse that happens on closed platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram. There is use of abusive language, and recruitment of the services of bloggers to push harmful and abusive content.

In both counties, participants from all the stakeholder groups we interacted with also pointed out the rising harms of social media that are not related to gender. They include excessive use of social media, attention span deficit, the influence social media platforms have in the decisions they make, exposure of children at an early age to social media platforms as content creators, and the content children access from unmonitored use of social media among other issues.

Empowering communities in Busia County! 🚀 We are conducting a training in Malaba town on TFGBV and Mental Health. This initiative focuses on equipping security officers and health practitioners to address TFGBV effectively and support the mental well-being of women and girls.… pic.twitter.com/nOorOWKrbe

— KICTANet (@KICTANet) March 11, 2025

Law Enforcement Challenges: Forensic Limitations and Digital Anonymity

For law enforcement, one challenge that was highlighted across the board was the lack of forensic capabilities to investigate and hold perpetrators accountable due to the cross-border nature of these platforms, anonymity, and use of VPNs. Others are use of pseudo-accounts, and the ability to delete posts.

Healthcare Hurdles: Access to Mental Health Services and Policy Needs

Medical officers pointed out the high cost of mental health services and the fact that there are very few psychologists in public hospitals hence impacting access to such services. These are questions that we need policy interventions for and we at KICTANet are committed to working with the relevant stakeholders in government to ensure that these services are not only accessible but effective.

Empowering Frontline Workers: Training Police and Health Officers

As a point of departure, we equipped the police and health workers with knowledge on TFGBV and its impact on mental health. This aims at helping them integrate such services in the respective gender desks at their respective stations.

We foresee that the women and girls trained will act as digital safety champions in both counties hence enabling more people to report and seek help and redress when they encounter TFGBV.

As we cool off from tembearing Kenya, we are aware that we have only scratched the surface of this pervasive vice and its impact, but we are proud nonetheless of the impact we have made so far. Onward and forward towards safe digital spaces and optimum mental health!

Cherie Oyier, Programs Officer-Women’s Digital Rights, KICTANet