From Cyber Experts to Cyber Trainers

Civil society groups - especially those serving vulnerable communities- face multiple threats online, from harassment to phishing and other digital attacks.

To mitigate these threats, an IWPR “training of trainers” brought together 12 cyber security experts from Armenia and Moldova to learn how their support could build more resilient organisational practices.

The five-day event in the Armenian capital Yerevan combined core cyber security concepts with a strong focus on facilitation and adapting content to different learning styles relevant for diverse audiences. 

Sergiu Bugai, programme director of the Roma Voice Coalition and himself a cyber security expert, said that the programme offered “a unique strategic opportunity”. 

“We work with multilingual communities, including groups that speak exclusively Russian, as well as populations from the left bank of the Nistru River – a region outside the control of the constitutional authorities,” he said. “In this context, digital resilience is not only a technical matter, but one of education, prevention and rapid response, which can be effectively scaled through training of trainers.”

In Roma communities, he explained, illiteracy rates exceeded 70 per cent among people aged over 60, while basic digital literacy remained extremely limited. 

“The programme was especially valuable due to its practical approach to real digital risks – from basic cyber hygiene to identifying and preventing disinformation campaigns,” Bugai concluded.

IWPR’s Cyber Help Desk provides cyber and holistic security support to civil society organisations in Armenia and Moldova, operating under the auspices of the Building Resilience in the Eastern Neighbourhood (BREN) programme.

“NGOs are best supported through a holistic approach that combines mindset, skillset, and toolset,” said Jennifer Kanaan, Cyber Help Desk programme manager. “This means building a shared culture of security awareness, strengthening practical skills through multi-modal learning led by local trainers in local languages, and equipping organisations with tailored tools, resources, and policies for daily use.”

The November activity under the Cyber Help Desk designed to put this approach into practice. It aimed to equip experienced cyber specialists not only with updated technical content, but with the skills required to help NGOS move to safer, sustained practices.

“The expertise was already there. What was missing was the ability to translate it into changed behaviour. This ToT helped cyber experts become trainers who can make that shift happen,” said Kanaan.

Participants noted that these skills would help make future sessions more inclusive and effective for staff with varying levels of digital literacy.

“The training made me rethink how I deliver cyber security sessions,” said Moldovan cyber expert Roman Tarita. “After I went back home, I contacted my client, an NGO that provides services for gender-based violence victims in the regions, to ask if I could revisit earlier trainings and apply what I had learned.”

The trained experts will now work to deliver follow-up initiatives, including a mobile programme to reinforce key security practices, and a project-based mini-incubator providing one-on-one support to help organisations develop practical, tailored security resources.

As digital threats continue to grow, strengthening a locally led network of experts who can provide long term support helps embed cyber security into organisational practice, strengthening civil society resilience from within.

“The key takeaway I gained is that being informed is not enough – you must act promptly and efficiently,” said Moldovan lawyer Roman Tarita. “I learned that prudence cannot be negotiated, as negligence in cyber security simply does not forgive." 

Above all, Tarita continued, participants were taught not “how to deliver a training, but how to understand the people we are addressing”.