Our Mission

We’re helping at-risk people and small organizations make the most of new digital technologies—without being derailed by looming cyber threats.

Daily life is spreading fast into digital space. From big cities to remote villages, people are heading online to find information, strengthen communities, plug into economies and be heard. Digital tools offer game-changing ways to surmount old barriers and create new opportunities. But digital space also exposes people to new threats, and traditionally-vulnerable people often get hit first and hardest.

The SecDev Foundation is a Canada-based NGO working globally to promote digital resilience among vulnerable populations. Most often, we work with women, youth and at-risk civil society organizations. We help them protect themselves from an evolving world of digital harms—whether that’s hacking, phishing, social engineering, disinformation or gender-based violence. Ultimately, that helps people build their own capacity to make life better for themselves and their communities.

With support, vulnerable people are learning to thrive online—safely.

Today, we’re supporting people in 20+ countries across Eurasia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. Alongside local partners, we build digital resilience programs that match local needs and realities. Our field-tested toolbox includes digital safety training, awareness raising, emergency response, and both technical and psychosocial support. Our unique CyberSTAR framework guides at-risk organizations through a full lifecycle of digital-safety audit, remediation and training. 

We work in a great diversity of places. But we’re best known for thriving in challenging operational environments, including places where people face armed conflict, oppression or humanitarian crisis. We’ve been at this since 2011. And we are constantly inspired by our beneficiaries—and by the positive change they create with the skills and knowledge we share.

Every single day, we see people creating new opportunities for themselves. We see them building bridges between communities, even amid conflict and crisis. We see them becoming stronger digital citizens who go on to share what they’ve learned. Together, over time, we even see them helping their countries and regions to succeed in the new global digital economy. Because in today’s world, that’s what strong digital citizens do.

We are honoured to have found this way to help people build a better world.